NHL Articles - Page 251

Last season, the Columbus Blue Jackets ran a bit of an experiment after losing center Sean Kuraly to injury. At the request of star sniper Patrik Laine, Columbus allowed the natural winger to play down the middle for two games. It seemed to work as the Finnish forward recorded four assists in two games. However, […]

The St. Louis Blues nearly traded veteran defenseman Torey Krug to the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a deal that would’ve shaken up the roster a bit, with defenseman Travis Sanheim and center Kevin Hayes due to come back the other way. In the end, Krug vetoed the trade through the use of his no-trade clause. […]

The Edmonton Oilers have the two best players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. However, that could soon change. Draisaitl hits the open market in 2025, and McDavid will follow suit in 2026. As a result, the pressure for the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup sooner rather than later is nearing […]

The Chicago Blackhawks will begin their slate of preseason games on Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues. This game will give us the first glimpse of this Chicago squad without Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. And it’ll give us our first glimpse of the player tabbed with replacing them, Connor Bedard. Bedard has been […]

The Calgary Flames announced that they have agreed to a two-year extension with veteran center Mikael Backlund, and they have also named him the 21st captain in the team’s history. Flames general manager Craig Conroy spoke about the move in the Flames’ announcement. “Mikael Backlund is our captain. He has been our captain for some […]

Veteran NHL winger Patrick Kane released a video of him working out through his agency CAA as he continues to rehab from a hip resurfacing procedure that he had done on June 1. Patrick Kane is a free agent after a long stint with the Chicago Blackhawks and getting traded to the New York Rangers […]

The Nashville Predators didn’t make the postseason in 2022-2023, marking the first time in eight years. The team threw the towel at the trade deadline, trading away Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Mattias Ekholm, and Tanner Jeannot. It seemed they were on the way to a rebuild, but the team went 13-9-2 to close the season […]

EA Sports revealed the top twenty rated players in NHL 24 earlier this week. Included with the ratings is additional stats, helping us determine the best players in each position so far. Of course, player ratings will change throughout the season. Nevertheless, let’s look at the best players in the game before NHL 24’s launch. […]

The Calgary Flames have turned themselves back into a playoff contender over the past few years, and a guy who has played a big role in their turnaround is assistant general manager Chris Snow. Snow, who was formerly a sportswriter for the Boston Globe, joined the Flames front office in 2011 before working his way […]

The St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs for only the second time since the 2010-11 season. After a decade of being a contender in the Western Conference, the Blues may need to go through a retool to get back. They parted ways with some integral members of the 2018-19 Stanley Cup-winning team. Captain Ryan O’Reilly […]

The Washington Capitals will be without a key blue liner for the beginning of the 2023-24 NHL season. Defenceman Joel Edmundson had surgery on his hand injury and will miss the next 4-6 weeks, via Capitals PR: “Capitals defenseman Joel Edmundson underwent a procedure on Tuesday to stabilize his fractured hand. Based on the nature […]

The Dallas Stars took the eventual Stanley Cup champions to six games in the Western Conference Finals last season. The team finished second to the Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division before beating the  Minnesota Wild in the first round to go to the Western semifinals. The Seattle Kraken did them a favor by ousting […]

The Winnipeg Jets had a good run from 2017 to 2021, being a constant threat to make the playoffs. The team had a good core with Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine, Jacob Trouba, and Connor Hellebuyck. Laine and Trouba have since gone on to different organizations, and Scheifele and Hellebuyck may not be far behind them. […]

The Philadelphia Flyers have been one of the more interesting teams over the last 13 years in terms of playoff success. After making an incredible run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010, the Flyers lost two tough second-round battles the following two seasons. From the 2012-13 campaign until the end of 2020, Philly rotated […]

The Montreal Canadiens weren’t planning to compete for the Stanley Cup in 2022-2023, but their young squad hoped to see some improvement. Instead, the team finished last in their division with a 31-45-6 record, which was fifth-worst in the league. Heading into the season, inexperience among their skaters and subpar goaltending had experts projecting that […]

The best player on the Anaheim Ducks roster remains without a contract after the team and star forward Trevor Zegras were unable to get an extension hammered out ahead of training camp. Zegras remains away from the team as he awaits a new deal; the restricted free agent joins defensemen Jamie Drysdale as the only […]

Calgary Flames winger Jakob Pelletier received some sarcastic comments from former coach Darryl Sutter after his NHL debut last season, with Sutter asking the media what Pelletier’s number is, which was No. 49 at the time. Here are Sutter's comments on Pelletier's debut tonight. Not sure why he has to be so sarcastic and negative […]

The fact that Evgeny Kuznetsov remains a Washington Capital with training camp underway is somewhat surprising considering the Russian was on the trade block this summer and officially requested a move. It was always going to be difficult to deal the 31-year-old, as he’s making over $7 million AAV for the next two years and […]

The Calgary Flames entered the 2022-23 season with high hopes despite the departures of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. They had acquired a top-scoring forward in Jonathan Huberdeau and some help to their defensive unit in MacKenzie Weegar. They signed reigning Stanley Cup champion Nazem Kadri to a contract to bolster their center depth, and […]

After nearly two years away from game action, Philadelphia Flyers forward Sean Couturier was back on the ice with his teammates in the squad’s first preseason contest on Monday night. The 30-year-old underwent back surgery twice since 2021, and hasn’t played a regular-season game since December of that year. “I’ve been waiting for this moment […]

The Dallas Stars made a very shrewd splash in NHL Free Agency. Dallas signed forward Matt Duchene to a one-year contract after the veteran was bought out by the Nashville Predators. The move has brought excitement for an already entertaining Stars offense. But the move brings more than just excitement, as Jason Robertson explained recently. […]

The Anaheim Ducks finished dead last in the NHL in 2022-23. It was a rather unfortunate turn of events, especially since the team has one of the most promising cores in the league. Many had hoped to see the Ducks take a step forward, even if they remained outside of the playoffs. In the end, […]

The New York Islanders didn’t have the best time last year. While they did make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, New York faced some adversity getting there. And in the playoffs, the Islanders could not overcome their first-round opponent. They lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, ending their season prematurely. For the most part, the Islanders are […]

The Seattle Kraken made quite the leap last season from their inaugural NHL campaign. Seattle made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2022-23, going up against the Colorado Avalanche. And not only did the Kraken beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Avs, they nearly made the Western Conference Finals. Seattle has quite the foundation in place […]

The Columbus Blue Jackets promoted Pascal Vincent to head coach following the resignation of Mike Babcock. As a result, the team had an opening on its coaching staff heading into the 2023-24 NHL season. On Monday, the Blue Jackets filled that opening in a big way. Columbus announced the hiring of Hockey Hall of Famer […]

Connor McDavid wowed the NHL world last season with his 153-point campaign, the highest point total the league has seen from a single player since 1996. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby doesn’t think the Edmonton Oilers superstar will stop there. Crosby said he could see McDavid notching 170 points this season, something that hasn’t been […]

Toronto Maple Leafs winger Nick Robertson was once viewed as the team’s best prospect after he was selected 53rd overall in 2019, but multiple injuries and overhauls to the roster have changed the perception of Robertson as a player, and he does not seem to care about that. “I know my name isn’t what it […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly going to explore giving Auston Matthews a role on the penalty kill for this season, and Matthews is open to playing that role. “You’re down a man but at the same time, it’s hockey, a lot of anticipation, a lot of reads, and I feel like I have a […]

After narrowly missing the playoffs last season the Buffalo Sabres made several moves in the summer to get them over the hump. One of those additions was veteran defenseman Connor Clifton, who signed a three-year contract with the Sabres after spending the first five seasons of his NHL career with the Boston Bruins. Clifton joins […]

The San Jose Sharks were a perennial Stanley Cup contender for over a decade, advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 and knocking on the door of Western Conference supremacy various other times in the 2010s. But after being one of the top teams in the NHL for so long, it only made sense […]

Pittsburgh Penguins fans rightly wondering where Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang will play with the man advantage during the 2023-24 season got their answer on Monday — head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that both defensemen would see time on PP1 to start the year. “The power play is very important to Erik and Kris,” Sullivan […]

The New York Rangers have had some real upside in recent years. Many around the NHL have keyed in on New York as a team that could take a major step forward. And yet, the team hasn’t been able to do so consistently. They made the Eastern Conference Finals a few years ago, but outside […]

The Chicago Blackhawks are gearing up for the beginning of a new era of their franchise. Connor Bedard enters the picture with the expectation of becoming the next Chicago hockey icon over the next few years. If there’s anyone who understands the pressure of being the first overall pick, it’s actually Bedard’s teammate, Taylor Hall. […]

The Vancouver Canucks likely would prefer not to talk about their preseason opener on Sunday. Facing the Calgary Flames, nothing went right for Vancouver. And at the end of the day, the Flames skated to a dominating 10-0 victory to begin the preseason. After the game, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet had to face the […]

The Boston Bruins kicked off their preseason slate of games on Sunday. And they got off to a promising start, fending off the New York Rangers and winning 3-0. Boston’s standout performer that game was one of their top prospects, as well. Forward Matthew Poitras scored a goal and dished out an assist in the […]

Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin is in the twilight of his career. The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer does not have a ton of time left on his playing days. However, Malkin still believes he has more in the tank than many would presume. And he hopes to see this out until he can’t go […]

The Vancouver Canucks haven’t made the playoffs since the 2019-20 season. They boast a promising roster on paper, but haven’t been able to put it all together on the ice. The team traded captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders last season, receiving Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty and a 2023 first-round pick in return. […]

The Pittsburgh Penguins are one of the only National Hockey League teams that have won a Stanley Cup in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. They’ve been a Stanley Cup contender for the better part of 30 years, led by past superstars Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, and a few of the game’s most marketable current […]

The Washington Capitals have suffered playoff heartbreak after playoff heartbreak in the Alexander Ovechkin era — but they broke through and won the Stanley Cup in 2018, so all past failures have been forgiven. But this has been a perennial regular season juggernaut that has failed to advance past the second round every season except […]