7 1/2 minutes to watch.

NEW YORK (March 15, 2023) – The National Hockey League today announced key dates for the remainder of the 2022-23 season:

Monday, April 17

Start of 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Monday, May 8

2023 NHL Draft Lottery (7 p.m. ET, ESPN, SN, TVAS)

Saturday, June 3

Tentative start of 2023 Stanley Cup Final (TNT, SN, TVAS)

Sunday, June 4 – Saturday, June 10

2023 NHL Scouting Combine presented by adidas (Buffalo)

Monday, June 26

2023 NHL Awards (Bridgestone Arena)

Wednesday, June 28

Round 1 of 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft (7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, ESPN, SN, TVAS) (Bridgestone Arena)

Thursday, June 29

Rounds 2-7 of 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft (11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT, NHLN, SN, TVAS) (Bridgestone Arena)

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe

Their focus not nearly where it needs to be, especially with the dream of a Cup dancing in their heads, the Bruins stumbled along to a shapeless, shabby 6-3 loss to the Hawks Tuesday at the United Center.

On the heels of Sunday’s loss in Detroit, yet another non-playoff team, it was the first time in 2022-’23 that the Black and Gold suffered consecutive regulation losses, and it was the third straight time that they yielded the game’s opening goal.

For a club that has been a trend-setter all season, powering to the top of the NHL standings and winning 50 games faster than any team in league history, the trend they have set of late now has them concerned.

“Clearly, we’re not checking well enough,” said coach Jim Montgomery, sounding miffed over the continued inconsistency of his club, which fell to 50-11-5 and now stands 1-3-0 in the last four. “We’re also not holding on to pucks well enough.”

Keeping in line with recent troubles, the Bruins again were blanked on the power play (0-for-2), fell a touch short on the penalty kill (2-for-3), and overall were outplayed by a near-no-name squad of Hawks that in no way resembles the dominating powerhouse that not long ago rattled off three Cup titles over six seasons.

continued

Game highlights are below.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The Wings have 15 games left, and seven points and five teams stand between them and a wild-card spot. It's been three weeks since they rode a 7-1 stretch into wild card position; since then, they lost six in a row, amidst the turmoil of seeing four teammates traded at the deadline, then went 2-2 over the past week. To their coach, Derek Lalonde, what matters is that the Wings don't give up easy offense, that they defend well and build good habits.

"I’m just happy we are playing the right way," Lalonde said. "That stretch around the deadline where we didn’t play well, probably felt sorry for ourselves a little bit. But we’ve got our group now, and we’ve got some guys slotted correctly, we have some rhythm with our group. I just want to play and the right way, and for the most part, over these last four games, we have. It’s a little frustrating (Tuesday) that we I felt we deserved a better outcome, at least a point out of this game."

Lalonde has, from the start of the season, preached an emphasis on performance over outcome. And given they lost a top-line winger in Tyler Bertuzzi and a top-four defenseman in Filip Hronek at the trade deadline, the Wings' overall response has been pretty good.

"They’ve shown that with their compete and their play," Lalonde said. "Now, if that tails off, then we have a different story and maybe a different approach. But there has been very little tail-off from our group. It’s been good, really good."

read on

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

"You have to tip the hat to their goalie," Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "I will have to watch back to see if we could have done more around him as far as taking his space and his eyes. But it just felt like we got a world-class goalie performance against us.

"But, the critique is, is that we spent 10 minutes in the box. Great job on the penalty kill, we went five-for-five, but the fact we were a much better team five-on-five, that’s 10 minutes of the game we weren’t able to get rhythm. Those stretches where it was five-on-five, lines were rolling, we got good rhythm. I the it would have been a different outcome."

Andrew Copp said the penalties affected the Wings, "big time. We’re running four killers right now so, you’ve got eight guys on the bench. Especially for some of those back-to-backs, I mean, it’s even tough for the guys killing because you’re kind of doubling a lite bit. It almost takes you out of the rhythm of the five-on-five game. It can really disrupt the flow of the bench."

read on

Below find an array of post game vieos.

* Artistic impression came to life with the first-ever live, animated NHL game telecast as ESPN, Disney Channel and the NHL teamed up to bring fans the "NHL Big City Greens Classic” on Tuesday.

* Leon Draisaitl scored two goals and became the second player to reach the 100-point mark this season, joining teammate Connor McDavid.

* Wednesday’s four-game slate features an NHL on TNT doubleheader with the Maple Leafs hosting the Avalanche followed by the Wild visiting the Blues.

An uneventful first period. Both teams had some chances but the goaltenders stopped everything.

Anther uneventful period by the Wings, meanwhile the Predators added a goal midway through the second period/ 1-2 Nashville after 40 minutes.

Early in period three, Nashville scored again.

With just over 2 minutes to play and on the power play, Detroit scored to make it 2-1 and that's how the game ended.

Below are some pre and in game videos from Bally Sports Detroit.

Team Stats

real gamevia the YouTube page of the NHL,

The NHL partnered with Disney to produce the first ever NHL Big City Green Classic featuring the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers.

The real NHL game highlights are below, NYR defeated the Caps 5-3.

Hiya and welcome to everyone. After splitting a back to back against the Broons this past weekend, the Wings are hoping to extend the winning to two games in a row. They showed some character against the top team in the league with a win that was important to the team’s identity, confidence, and coaching as the season winds down.

The Wings are in “Music City” tonight to take on the Predators, a team that is big, young, and tough. Even if the Preds aren’t necessarily vying for a WC spot, expect lots of physical play. Because, Hockey….

It’s the Wings vs the Preds. The puck will drop around 8:00 PM and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). Also available on NHLPP/ESPN+ and BSSO.

It’s a Live Blog!

TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Chris Johnston join Gino Reda to discuss the biggest news and storylines at the GM meetings, including the injury statuses of some top players, the expansion of coaches challenges and more.

Watch at TSN

from Dan Rosen of the NHL website,

The NHL general managers concluded Tuesday that it's best to continue to study and gather information before acting on any of the main topics they discussed in breakout groups Monday, the first day of their annual meetings. In particular, those include adding video review for high-sticking minors and delay of game penalties, but they will also hold off on changing the policing of fighting after clean hits.

"The expression we often use is the possible unintended consequences," Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said. "We're going to keep thinking about it and try to anticipate everything."

The 32 GMs separated into four groups of eight Monday. They convened in a large group setting Tuesday to go over their discussions and findings.

The feeling on video review is that it's a work in progress because, though the technology exists to aide in the accuracy of a call, there is no consensus on the implementation of the review process for penalties such as high-sticking minors and pucks over the glass.

For example, the NHL already allows the officials, at their discretion, to review their own calls on high-sticking double minors and is happy with how that process is working. NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom said there have been about 100 such penalties this season, of which 35-40 percent have been reviewed by the officials.

But there are nearly eight times more high-sticking minor penalties than double minors through the course of a season, so the worry is that expanding video review to allow the minor penalties to be looked at will kill momentum and lengthen games.

"We could have 750 high sticks this year, and we certainly don't want to be checking every one," Walkom said. "That's a lot bigger issue."

continued

RALEIGH, NC. - Don Waddell, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that forward Andrei Svechnikov will undergo reconstructive surgery on his right ACL on Thursday morning, performed by Dr. Marty Isbell of Raleigh Orthopaedic. Svechnikov will miss the remainder of the 2022-23 regular season as well as the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"After further consultation with global experts in this field, it has been determined that the best course of action for Andrei's future is to have this surgery, and to have it done by our team orthopedist, Dr. Marty Isbell," said Waddell. "We're confident that Andrei will make a full recovery."

Svechnikov, 22, ranks tied for second among Hurricanes skaters in points this season (55) and is third on the team in goals (23) in 64 games played. Carolina's first-round selection, second overall, in the 2018 NHL Draft, Svechnikov has scored 112 goals and earned 152 assists (264 points) in 347 career NHL games with the Hurricanes.

NHL senior executive VP of hockey operations Colin Campbell and director of officiating Stephen Walkom recap day 2 of the GM meetings where expanding video review and fighting were discussed.

Watch at TSN

from Greg Wyshynski of ESPN,

For years, the NHL tried to figure out how to collect real-time data during games using technology. The 1990s saw the much-derided FoxTrax "glow puck," in which an array of infrared emitters and electronics were placed inside the puck. The NHL started seriously exploring puck and player tracking again in 2014, although its cost and some quality control problems with the pucks created growing pains.

The latest incarnation -- dubbed NHL Edge and powered by SMT -- has been the most successful version of puck and player tracking for the league. It collects data through sensors on player uniforms and inside the puck itself. There's also an optical tracking component that validates that data "within a few milliseconds," Lehanski said.

The data goes beyond player and puck location. The sensors measure speed and distance for skaters and on their shots, among other data points.

Now that it had a tracking system it was confident in, the NHL started chasing the big ideas it had for that data. For example, using real-time puck and player tracking to recreate a hockey game in a virtual 3D environment, with animated players and camera angles that couldn't be accomplished in the real world.

That was something a Netherlands-based company called Beyond Sports was already doing for professional soccer matches. The NHL partnered with the firm and began showing demonstrations of virtual hockey games, which could be viewed on screens or using VR goggles. The players were big and blocky. The action was slower than in an actual game. But the potential for the technology was obvious, and it has only been refined since then.

more, note the first part of the article is about the animated game tonight...

Ice Hockey is one of the world's most popular sports. Played at every level, from youth and as a hobby to amateur and professional in the United States and Canada, there's also a healthy ice hockey season in the United Kingdom, Russia, Serbia, and further afield.

I have a scheduled Dr. appointment this morning.

ETA return is by 10:30am. See you then.

from Jesse Granger and Michael Russo of The Athletic,

Goalies in general seem to be dislodging nets often this season, and the league is taking notice. The NHL Situation Room in Toronto has been keeping a close eye on the matter, clipping video of every time it occurs as part of a presentation to the general managers at this week’s meetings in Manalapan, Fla. Earlier this winter, the league also planned to conduct a series of tests to determine the force it takes to knock its nets off the moorings and if they could make changes to the way to the way nets and pegs are made, or the way nets are installed into the ice in order to better secure them. The hope was for this data to be presented this week in Florida.

After conversations with several top goalies, most believe the biggest reason for net dislodging isn’t necessarily the moorings themselves, but more so an incorrect installation.

“Sometimes, when the net comes off once, there’s a lot of snow that goes into the hole,” Predators goalie Juuse Saros said. “If the refs don’t clear the hole, then the peg doesn’t go deep enough. I feel like that’s usually the problem, so they need to remember to take the snow out.”

The NHL has used the Marsh Peg design to hold its nets in place since 1991. The plastic anchors were originally 1 5/8 inches long, but in 2002, the league increased them to 1 7/8 inches. They sit in drilled holes in the ice, but can become less effective if they are not sitting at the correct depth. This provides a possible explanation for why some goalies will go weeks without dislodging a net once, then have it happen multiple times in a single game.

more ($)

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Regarding the Rangers, who continue their Ye Olde Patrick Division Week with the Caps at the Garden on Tuesday before the Penguins hit Broadway for a Thursday-Saturday double feature.

1. Here the Blueshirts are, fighting to nail down third place in the division and trying to crest just ahead of the playoffs while looking for all the world like a team coming out of training camp searching for an identity.

2. When I see Patrick Kane, whose game is as unrecognizable as the uniform he is wearing, I flash back to late March 2014 and a haggard, exasperated Marty St. Louis giving himself an extended face wash at a practice rink in Calgary while talking about having gone scoreless for his first 13 games as a Ranger.

Changing colors after a lifetime is not as easy as changing into a new top. But Kane, conspicuously low-key through his first 10 days in Blue, should stop being so diffident. Easier for me to say than for No. 88 to do, most likely, but management did not move heaven and earth to bring him here so that Kane could be just another guy in the chorus line.

Of course, reuniting Kane with Artemi Panarin was the way to go at the start. Their connection formed the initial impetus for the Rangers to even conjure this move. But maybe there was a good reason Streisand and Redford never tried to recreate the chemistry they had in “The Way We Were.”

continued

* Artturi Lehkonen had three points in his return to Bell Centre as Colorado scored a season-high eight goals to defeat Montreal and climb the Central Division standings.

* Alex Tuch returned to the lineup and tallied a second straight game-winning goal to help the Sabres rally past the Maple Leafs and inch closer to the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

* ESPN, Disney Channel and the NHL are teaming up to bring fans the "NHL Big City Greens Classic" on Tuesday, which features the Capitals clashing with the Rangers in the first-ever live, animated NHL game telecast.

from Michael Russo and Sean Gentile of The Athletic,

An expansion of the NHL coach’s challenge system to include reviews of same-team high-stick penalties and incorrect “puck over glass” calls was discussed on Day 1 of the league’s general manager meetings, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

The league’s most recent tweaks to the system came before the 2019-20 season, most notably attaching a two-minute delay of game minor to a failed challenge of any sort, rather than simply a missed offside.

Now, according to Daly, another expansion is “a possibility” based on how the rest of the meetings unfold.

The league’s approach to fights that take place after clean hits was also discussed in a series of breakout sessions, Daly said, adding that the topic is likely to come up again over the next two days.

Player safety

The league would like to make skate cut-protective equipment on wrists and legs mandatory.

“We want to get to a situation where there’s some kind of mandate to use it,” Daly said.

continued ($) with more topics...

via the YouTube page of Sportsnet,

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman share their thoughts on the potential for the NHL to crack down on some of the fighting rules.