Zegras played primarily on the wing, with some looks at center, and helped drive Philadelphia’s push into the playoffs down the stretch. The Philadelphia Flyers will not require arbitration to get a new deal done with star forward Trevor Zegras. The Sabres are trying to remain competitive after making the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. After a long professional hockey career, it feels very fitting to see this scenario play out where Kane ends it where it all began. The Sabres lost a hometown kid in Alex Tuch to the Capitals, who was the key return in the Jack Eichel trade a few years ago.
The OHL’s London Knights have landed another big-time prospect, forward Luca Santala, who signed on an OHL Scholarship and Development Agreement. Sometimes the biggest news in hockey isn’t a trade or a signing. The debut of the Winter Classic, an outdoor regular season NHL game held on New Year’s Day in 2008, was a significant success for the league. Unlike the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Olympic tournament, the World Cup of Hockey is played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF. The annual Ice Hockey World Championships is held every May, at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Expansion era
- In 1992, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s goaltender Manon Rhéaume made history as the first woman to participate in a game in any major professional sports league in North America, successfully saving seven out of nine shots in a preseason matchup against the St. Louis Blues.
- This has significant effects on the league, as elite players have suffered from the aftereffects of concussions (such as Sidney Crosby being sidelined for approximately ten and a half months), which adversely affects the league’s marketability.
- NHL Centre Ice in Canada and NHL Center Ice in the United States are the league’s subscription-based, out-of-market sports packages that offer access to out-of-market feeds of games through a cable or satellite television provider.
- If the game is still tied at the end of overtime, the game enters a shootout.
- The Sabres lost a hometown kid in Alex Tuch to the Capitals, who was the key return in the Jack Eichel trade a few years ago.
- In 2023, he turned professional with the AHL’s Texas Stars, appearing in only 44 games before being part of a trade involving three teams in February 2024, which transferred Chris Tanev to the Stars.
A six-year deal will offer McMichael the security he needs to focus on winning that competition – and could land St. Louis with a high-value contract through his prime years. Buchnevich scored just 48 points in 81 games – and spent time on the fourth line late in the year. He is still a young pro – only 25 years old – and shouldn’t be betting and predictions tasked with playing center on a Blues club that also acquired Mason McTavish. It was on the heels of that performance that Washington offered McMichael a two-year extension – a prove-it deal that offered the young center a chance to earn more once he found his footing. After being selected with the 25th-overall pick in 2019, McMichael turned pro with Washington in 2020 and debuted in the NHL in 2021.
While Alex Ovechkin pursues 1,000 career goals, is it feasible for the Capitals to realistically pursue another Stanley Cup?
The NHL’s rules are the basis for rules governing most professional and major junior ice hockey leagues in North America. The NHL’s rules are one of the two standard sets of professional ice hockey rules in the world, the other being the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), as used in tournaments such as the Olympics. A committee led by Bettman and chairman Jeremy Jacobs is responsible for vetting new ownership applications, collective bargaining, and league expansion. The Eastern Conference consists of the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions, while the Western Conference consists of the Central and Pacific divisions. Each conference is split into two divisions, with 16 teams per conference and 8 per division.
Grushnikov, unable to ascend the ranks in Calgary, is set to return to the club where he started his career, aiming to establish a more stable professional presence in the KHL. That call was answered with the finest performance of his career, highlighted by a.921 save percentage across 21 AHL games and a.895 save percentage in 11 NHL games. Before launching his professional journey with the Arizona Coyotes in 2019, Prosvetov recorded impressive save percentages in the NAHL, USHL, and OHL.
Canadiens re-sign RFA Dach to one-year, $3.6 million dealOpens in new window
The policy provides for a twenty-game suspension for a first positive test, a sixty-game suspension for a second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test. Fighting in the NHL leads to major penalties while IIHF rules, and most amateur rules, call for the ejection of fighting players. Since the 2013–14 season, the league trimmed the goal frames by 4 inches (10 cm) on each side and reduced the size of the goalies’ leg pads. The goaltender can play the puck only within the trapezoid or in front of the goal line; if the goaltender plays the puck behind the goal line and outside the trapezoidal area, a two-minute minor penalty for delay of game is assessed.
In 2026, the Everblades, located in Estero, Florida, claimed the Kelly Cup, securing their title as ECHL Champions. Bright young goaltender Sergei Murashov and 23-year-old forward Avery Hayes, both part of the Wheeling team, represent the emerging wave of younger talent in West Virginia, often a league for less-recognized prospects. The Hoffmann Group, based in Chicago, received approval last month to purchase the Penguins, marking a significant advancement from their previous hockey involvement with ownership of the Everblades. A Finn with an impressive background, Santala’s father Tommi enjoyed a lengthy and fruitful professional career as a center in the NHL, Finland, Switzerland, and had a stint in the KHL. Santala, emerging from Kiekko-Espoo, notched 12 points in 25 games while playing alongside older skaters, finishing 12th in the team rankings.
Penguins Announce ECHL Affiliation Changes
To aid with removing high-speed collisions on icing, which had led to several potential career-ending injuries, such as to Hurricanes’ defenceman Joni Pitkanen, the league mandated hybrid no-touch icing for the 2013–14 NHL season. This has significant effects on the league, as elite players have suffered from the aftereffects of concussions (such as Sidney Crosby being sidelined for approximately ten and a half months), which adversely affects the league’s marketability. The league’s post-lockout agreement with NBC gave the league a share of revenue from each game’s advertising sales, rather than the usual lump sum paid up front for game rights. With no new agreement in hand when the contract expired, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and closed the league’s head office for the 2004–05 season. A lockout at the start of the 1994–95 season forced the league to reduce the schedule from 84 games to 48, with the teams playing only intra-conference games during the reduced season.
Between the 2004–05 NHL lockout and 2021, NBC and OLN (which later became Versus and then NBCSN) held the U.S. national broadcasting rights. After 1981, NHL broadcasts were primarily available on cable television, appearing at different times on the USA Network, SportsChannel America, and ESPN. Before 1995, the American broadcast partners for the league had been changing frequently for decades. Games not included in the national rights agreement are shown through regional feeds from Sportsnet, TSN, and RDS.