from Matt Larkin of The Hockey News,

Before diving into our top 10 rising prospects of the year, here’s a refresher on how Future Watch gets made:

Future Watch is an annual special edition of The Hockey News in which we (a) grade every NHL franchise’s pool of 21-and-younger talent, from players in the system to youngsters on the NHL rosters and (b) rank the top 100 NHL-affiliated individual prospects, with “NHL-affiliated” referring to all drafted or signed players in a team’s system. A 2021 draft hopeful such as Owen Power doesn’t qualify as he doesn’t have an NHL team yet.

How do we build these rankings? First, we work with NHL team personnel representing almost every franchise and come up with an updated list of each team’s top 10 prospects not yet in full-time NHL roles. That gives us 310 players. We deliver that group of 310 to a panel of scouts and/or high-ranking team executives from around the NHL. They rank all 310 players, and we blend the results to create an individual list of our top 100 prospects....

4. JONATAN BERGGREN, RW, DETROIT RED WINGS

A fully healthy season has let Berggren spread his, er, wings and show his true potential. He played more games in the Swedish League this season than he had in the previous two seasons combined, and he showed off some extremely slick playmaking skills with Skelleftea, finishing second in the league in assists. He’s a second-rounder from the 2018 draft shaping up to deliver first-round value.

more on future watch and more players too...

3 1/2 minutes to watch.

Adam Erne still on protocol list, will not play tonight. Blashill hinting Robby Fabbri won't play again this season too.

from Elliott Teaford of the OC Register,

Ducks goaltender Ryan Miller announced his retirement Thursday, effective at season’s end, the 18th and final one in his Hall of Fame-worthy career.

Miller departs the game as the winningest United States-born goalie in NHL history, with 390 victories in 794 games.

Miller, 40, spent his final four seasons with the Ducks, serving as a backup and a mentor to John Gibson. Earlier this season, Miller passed Dominik Hasek for 14th place on the NHL’s all-time wins list. He had hoped to reach 400 victories, but the Ducks’ losing ways didn’t allow it.

The pandemic also played a role in limiting his appearances. Last season was cut short by 11 games and, when the NHL returned to the ice in 2020-21, the schedule was trimmed to 56 games. The Ducks have six games remaining, including Friday and Saturday at Honda Center.

Miller began his career with the Buffalo Sabres, replacing the departed Hasek as a fan favorite. He won 284 games in 11 seasons with the Sabres. He also was named the Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top goalie in 2009-10. He also played with St. Louis and Vancouver.

continued

added 11:11am, Anaheim release is below.

from Emily Sadler of Sportsnet,

Earlier this week, agent Neil Glasberg of PBI Sports announced a new partnership with Patrick Roy, indicating Roy's interest in a potential return to the NHL.

“He could be a president of hockey ops. He could be a GM. He could be a co-GM. He could be a head coach,” Glasberg told Sportsnet's Luke Fox later Monday. “It's going to be situational. That's the truthful answer.”

Per Fox's report, Roy is happy in his current role as general manager and coach of the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts -- the same club he coached to Memorial Cup victory in his first post-playing endeavour -- and was approached by Glasberg about the idea of representation. There's no imminent NHL deal in place, nor has there been communication between Roy and his old club the Montreal Canadiens.

All that being said, it's an interesting development considering Roy's status as NHL goaltending royalty and what happened during his first (and currently only) NHL coaching stint.

Roy's tenure in Colorado started with a spark but ultimately fizzled out after three seasons, with Roy surprising the hockey world with his resignation just two months before his fourth was set to begin.

Here's a look back at how his three-year tenure with the Avalanche unfolded:

continued

from Amber Neely of Apple Insider,

Hockey teams across the U.S. and Canada utilize a first-of-its-kind app on the iPad to create better-informed decisions during the game.

The app in question is SAP-NHL Coaching Insights App for iPad, and it has revolutionized the way coaches gain insight into a game.

It is capable of providing coaches with a wealth of information at their fingertips. Coaches can quickly lookup real-time data on how players on both teams have performed on faceoffs overall, how teams have performed at specific locations, and how players have faired against particular opponents.

"It's a huge part of coaching in today's game," Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told The Atlantic. "We're trying to get better every day, and you do that on the ice, but you can't only get better on the ice. You need to get better in all aspects, and you need to use every tool that's available to you, and that's where the technology and these iPads have become so important."

It also analyzes information throughout the game, making it more valuable as the game goes on. For example, SAP-NHL Coaching Insights can be used to keep track of which players have taken breaks and for how long. This information allows coaches to make sure players are being rotated out to maximize energy while minimizing potential injury or fatigue.

continued

10 saves in 5 minutes.

from Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal,

It might not be official, but things have reached city limits: Consider the Golden Knights the best varsity team in the Honda West Division.

The Knights beat Colorado 5-2 on Wednesday night before 3,950 at T-Mobile Arena, creating what should be an insurmountable cushion between them and the Avalanche for first place.

And, yeah, that matters a lot.

And, yeah, those in the lead hate to even consider having such an edge.

“A huge, huge result for the standings,” Knights coach Pete DeBoer said. “It gives us a real chance. We still have a lot of business to take care of over the last two weeks, but it sets up that our destiny is in our own hands. Which is at least what you want heading into the last few weeks of a season.”

continued

Below, watch the game highlights.

THREE HARD LAPS

* Auston Matthews, who leads the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race with 35 goals this season, scored the game winner as the Maple Leafs clinched a berth in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* Connor McDavid recorded his fourth straight three-point game and is now on pace for 100 points in a shortened NHL season.

* The Golden Knights moved into first place in the NHL standings as they earned their 10th straight win.

If you missed it earlier today, Gallant was name head coach for Canada at the World Championship.

“As players, we feel we’re very fortunate that we’ve been able to do what we love to do. There’s a lot of situations out there where people have had to sacrifice what they love to do and we’re still able to do it, obviously under different circumstances. Guys have had to really adhere to protocols and things like that, and it’s made it stressful at times.

“But at the end of the day, we’re playing hockey and we’ve enjoyed that part of it.”

-Sam Gagner of the Detroit Red Wings. Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News has more from Gagner.

Hockey starts early today at 5:30pm ET with Vancouver in Ottawa. Some excitting games will follow, the full schedule is below. Quinton Byfield makes his NHL debut for the LA Kings too.

Big game of the night is the Colorado Avalanche against the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas holds a four point lead but Colorado has a game in hand.

Jeff Blashill first, Sam Gagner below.

A little less than five minutes to watch.

It's slow, so...

Join NHL prospect guru Scott Wheeler, Aaron Ward and Ken Daniels.

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Teammates told Detroit Red Wings prospect Joe Veleno to work hard, have fun and enjoy the moment Tuesday, because you only get one opportunity to make your NHL debut.

“They said everything you did to get here, bring it on the ice every shift,” Veleno said.

After feeling some butterflies and what he called exciting nerves during the pregame warmup, Veleno did not look out of place in his first NHL game, a 1-0 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

“He was strong on the puck, strong on his stick, played a 200-foot game, had some opportunities,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought he played a good hockey game. He looked like a guy who’s played two years pro and was ready for the opportunity to skate in the NHL. His strength really showed.

“He got a decent amount of ice time and he earned it.”

continued

THREE HARD LAPS

* The Panthers and Lightning both earned wins to clinch a berth in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, joining the Hurricanes – who clinched on Monday and moved into first place in the overall NHL standings with a win on Tuesday – to fill three of the four slots in the Discover Central Division.

* The Capitals swept their three-game set with the Islanders, shutting out New York in two of the three contests, to move one point ahead of the Penguins for first place in the MassMutual East Division.

* The NHL and Turner Sports announced a seven-year media rights agreement that will have regular-season, Stanley Cup Playoff and Stanley Cup Final games televised on TNT and TBS starting next season and running through 2027-28.

Not much to say when the score was 0-0 going to overtime.

Both goalies were good and both teams looked as if there was nothing to play for, which is correct for Detroit and Columbus.

Now really not much to say after a goal less OT.

CBJ wins in the shootout, Wings failed to score.

Team stats.

added 10:50pm, Below, find Joe Veleno and coach Blashill in one video and also the game highlights.

added 12:43am on 4/28/21, Longer versions of Veleno and Blashill are below.

added 12:52am, Mickey Redmond is below and good night.

via TSN's YouTube page,

TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Frank Seravalli joins host Gino Reda to discuss an update on the NHL’s Draft Lottery, if All-Star Weekend is on the league’s radar for next season and whether or not the league’s new U.S. TV deal could have an impact on the salary cap going forward.

There's not much to talk about. The Wings are finishing out the season, and, the 19 are thinking about which players we'd like to have back, and hoping to catch a glimpse of Joe Veleno.
It's anybody's guess regarding what Yzerman plans to do with the coaching position, and, who stays or goes.

So, let's just sit back, enjoy the rest of the season, and look forward to next year.

It's a Live Blog!

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

If you’ve watched this Red Wings team on television on a nightly basis or covered them, you can’t deny facts. They've gotten better, individually and collectively, despite the noise around them.

Coach Jeff Blashill called it out the other day, noting what has stood out in this irregular season.

“I would say both on and off the ice, our push to keep getting better on a daily basis,” Blashill said.

On many levels, this Wings season has been so much more watchable than last season — a low bar to jump over — and maybe the last several seasons.

For Blashill, who doesn’t have a contract for next season, the way this roster has continued to forge ahead could be a check in the “why to bring him back” column.

This season would have been an easy one for this team to mentally get away from, especially after a disastrous first month (2-6-2) and an eight-game winless streak from Jan. 22 to Feb. 5.

continued

from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- GMs seen so far at the Under-18s: Doug Armstrong (St. Louis), Jim Benning (Vancouver), Ron Francis (Seattle) and Steve Yzerman (Detroit).

- During Monday’s Board of Governors’ meeting, Bettman made it very clear there would be serious consequences for post-season COVID outbreaks resulting from not following protocols. A couple of governors were left with the impression that if a team could not finish a series, it might have to forfeit.

- For awhile now, teams have indicated they’d like to reign in coaching/front-office salaries, and we’re going to get an indication of how serious that really is over the next little while. Carolina’s Tom Dundon is one owner who’s mentioned it, and the Hurricanes are working on an extension with Rod Brind’Amour — who sets the tone for a really good team.

A month ago, I’d heard it was a foregone conclusion, but was then warned it was a tougher grind than anyone hoped or wanted. I don’t believe Brind’Amour wants to go anywhere else, and I have always believed this gets done, but it’s been a challenge.

- McDavid’s 1.76 points per game is tied for 30th in NHL history. It’s the highest since Mario Lemieux’s 1.77 in 2000-01. Only Mike Bossy, Phil Esposito, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Lemieux, Bernie Nicholls, Adam Oates, Bobby Orr and Steve Yzerman are ahead of that.

- On cross-checking, GMs were reminded of the standard: a push versus a punch with the stick. The former is okay, the latter is not. There’s a little more latitude in front of the net as opposed to elsewhere on the ice. There is supposed to be an allowance for net-front battling, which is where the subjectivity comes in and makes some people crazy.

more Thoughts, including a look at the Turner Sports deal.

Seider left his last game and did not return. His coach was silent on his status but he is back playing today.

As mentioned yesterday, Veleno has yet to be cleared to play but that could happen before tonight's game in Columbus.

A bit over 3 minutes to watch.