Short-term deal? Check. A $7.5--$8 million AAV? Check. Playing alongside an elite NHL center? Check. Taylor Hall, the top free agent winger on the market, found a place that checked each of the necessary boxes. A place where he could gamble to maximize his value on...
Alex Pietrangelo, 2020's most-coveted free agent, did not sign as the free agent market opened on Friday. But, it was not without a major development that could very well decide the future for the former cup-winning captain of the Blues. As much of the day was quiet...
In the same vein that the 2013 Entry Draft was highlighted by the top-shelf products of Nathan MacKinnon, Aleksander Barkov and Seth Jones, the ninth overall pick was an equally memorable part of the afternoon. That was when NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, who spent...
For the class of 2020, Tuesday brought a certain degree of relief as much as it did clarity. Since the pause of the 2019-20 regular season and the subsequent trickle-down in nearly every other major, competitive, organized hockey league across the globe due to...
We've arrived to the pinnacle of the NHL offseason: the draft and free agency. More moves and team-defining decisions are made this week than any other time during the regular season. Of course, this offseason timeline remains in flux making this potentially the...
What's one thing that the Flames, Avalanche and Golden Knights upper management are probably saying to themselves ahead of crucial and perhaps, months of an NHL offseason upcoming? It's got to be, at least a little bit, how can we be a little like the Dallas Stars?...
With a commanding 3-1 series lead, the Stars have a chance to make Monday one of the most memorable games in Stars' history. It's already, without question, the most important game the franchise has played in nearly two decades. And with a ticket to the Stanley Cup...
Two magic words: Game Seven. It's been absent from the bubble vocabulary since it began last month, and while Columbus and Toronto provided an all-or-nothing game five in the qualifiers, the stakes are considerably higher as Friday's contest in Edmonton will send one...
If there was one thing the Avalanche didn't need, it was a limping Gabriel Landeskog in the final minutes of the second period. Colorado took a 2-1 lead over the Stars on a Cale Makar snapshot in the second period of a must-win game on Wednesday. But the period wasn't...
Neither of Thursday's scheduled postseason games in the NHL will be played, according to various reports. This comes following a formal request from the Hockey Diversity Alliance to the National Hockey League to forego playing a pair of games including game three of...
When the Coyotes sent a package of picks and prospects to the Devils for Taylor Hall in December, they hoped they were getting ahead of the trade deadline frenzy and could focus on a push to the playoffs. And while they defeated the Preds in the qualifiers, they...
A year ago when Tampa spoiled their 128-point season with a first round sweep to the Blue Jackets, it was clear that the star-filled roster was missing something. That, being so powerful throughout the regular season and yet so unable to catch momentum in the...
In June, 2018, when Barry Trotz departed the Capitals organization days after the franchise won their first Stanley Cup, Brian MacLellan's job was to find a quality replacement. Ideally, it would be a candidate with some sort of experience in the playoffs and perhaps...
John, Jarmo and Ryan. Whether they knew it or not, they were to be the starring cast for the Blue Jackets 10 years ago. It was them, one from the bench, one from a suite atop and one helping bring Seth Jones in from Nashville that helped raise the expectation and...
In each of the three prior games, the Canucks were able to answer whatever the defending champs threw their way. Even in Sunday's 3-2 overtime loss, they took just 37 seconds to answer the Blues first lead of the series. On Monday they couldn't find the answer in...
If there's one thing that makes me want to call the qualifying round, or round-of-24, part of the actual playoffs and not just the manufactured (albiet entertaining) tournament designated to decide the fate of "bubble" teams, it's the Edmonton Oilers. At the pause,...
No, you're not reading the same story from Thursday night. And yes, I'm sure it's not the other way around. Though I understand your skepticism, yet another 3-0 deficit was blown. On back-to-back nights no less. But, as they say, you've seen one 3-0 lead blown, you've...
In the moments that immediately followed the Panthers elimination from the qualifying round, a 5-1 loss to the Islanders, reports of a change at the top started. Dale Tallon, the club's GM and President since 2010-11 (served as only President of Hockey Operations in...
It might've been when Auston Matthews scored the opening goal on Tuesday en route to a 3-0 win to even the series for the Leafs. Or, it could've been at the hotel, when a scroll through Twitter would show what everyone was watching--the center and his coach publicly...
The Panthers needed an inspired group to play with composure or face elimination on Wednesday. They chose the former, prolonging their playoff hopes and pushing the Islanders to a fifth game on Saturday afternoon. After being penalized seven times on Tuesday,...
Facing elimination, the Rangers needed to pull out all the stops to get passed Carolina and prolong their season to avoid being the first of 24 teams to exit the bubble. But even with a change in the pipes and their first lead of the series, it wasn't enough to delay...
Having a short memory might be important for the Panthers ahead of an elimination game on Wednesday versus the Islanders. Of course, maybe selective memory might suit the Cats better. In two games, they've seen the Islanders parade to a combined nine 10 power plays....
Attention hockey bracket-fillers, there just might be a 1-2 punch of safe-risks in this year's extraordinarily unpredictable 22-team format. Might I interest you in a four-line team on the brink of closing out its qualifying round? How about a low-expectation regular...
Solution resolved in the case of Milan Lucic and James Neal, whose all-Alberta exchange was just another thing further complicated by COVID-19. Edmonton must send a third rounder in the 2020 or 2021 Draft, the decision to be made at the draft and round within. The...
X-Factor's, Black Ace's or Dark Horse. Take your pick of what to call them, but be prepared to call on them. As the 2020 Playoffs are due to get underway this weekend, we'll get a look at how teams will step up their game following training camp and a lone pre-season...
For the parties intimately involved in hockey's return to play on Tuesday, it was the first glance at what the next two months will look and how the 2019-20 season will finally see its long-awaited conclusion. But in unprecedented times, finding anything universally...
The NHL plans to pump artificial sounds into its Stanley Cup Playoffs and qualifier games. That's just one measure the league will take to try and make puck drop have some feeling of normalcy for players and the television viewing audience, all starved for hockey...
One NHL offseason from now will be the first for the league's 32nd franchise. Ahead of the 2021-22 season, the league will return to Seattle for the first time since the Metropolitans folded in 1924. Even in unprecedented times, that doesn't seem all that far away....
The Blues were one of only two teams to play into last June before ultimately hosting variety of other events to go in line with the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup victory. But even with their active calendar from one year ago, it's hard to imagine anything will...
It may still be another four months at least before the Devils see competitive hockey games, but the organization is closing in on filling two of the club's most important roles. According to reports, Lindy Ruff, who has coached nearly 1,500 NHL games in the role as...
