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 by being the first female athlete to participate in a game across any major North American professional sports league, managing to stop seven out of nine shots during a preseason match 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.
• A shootout occurs if the game remains tied once overtime concludes.
• 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.
• He turned pro with the AHL’s Texas Stars in 2023 – but only appeared in 44 games before he was included in a three-team trade in February 2024 deal that sent Chris Tanev to the Stars.

McMichael will gain the security he requires to concentrate on winning that competition from a six-year contract — which may also secure St. Louis a lucrative deal during his prime years. Scoring only 48 points in 81 games, Buchnevich found himself positioned on the fourth line betting and predictions late in the season. At just 25 years of age — he remains a young professional who should not be expected to play center for a Blues team that also acquired Mason McTavish. Following that performance — McMichael was offered a two-year extension by Washington—a prove-it contract presenting the young center with an opportunity to earn more once he established himself. After being chosen as the 25th overall pick in the 2019 draft, McMichael transitioned to a professional career with Washington in 2020 and made his NHL debut in 2021.

Can the Capitals realistically chase another Stanley Cup while Alex Ovechkin chases 1,000 career goals?

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.

Unable to find a way to climb Calgary’s ranks, Grushnikov will now return to the club where his career began – with hopes of finding better pro footing in the KHL. He rewarded that call with the best season of his career – marked by a .921 save percentage in 21 AHL games and a .895 save percentage in 11 NHL games. Prosvetov posted high save percentages in the NAHL, USHL, and OHL before beginning his pro career in the Arizona Coyotes’ organization in 2019.

The Canadiens have re-signed restricted free agent Dach to a one-year contract worth $3.6 million.

A positive test for the first time results in a twenty-game suspension (while a second leads to a sixty-game suspension), and a third results in a lifetime ban, according to the policy. In the NHL — fighting results in significant penalties; however, IIHF regulations, as well as many amateur rules, mandate that players involved in fighting be ejected. Since the 2013–14 season, the league has reduced the dimensions of the goal frames by 4 inches , 10 cm, on each side and has also decreased the size of goalies’ leg pads. The puck can only be played by the goaltender within the trapezoid or directly in front of the goal line; playing the puck behind the goal line and outside the trapezoid results in a two-minute minor penalty for delay of game.

The Everblades — based in Estero, Florida, brought home the 2026 Kelly Cup as ECHL Champions. Often a league for the less-heralded prospects, bright young goaltender Sergei Murashov and 23-year-old forward Avery Hayes form the next wave of younger talent who wore the Wheeling uniform and took to the ice in West Virginia. Last month the Chicago-based Hoffmann Group was granted approval to acquire the Penguins (quite the step up from their only other venture into the hockey world), owning the Everblades. A Finn with a strong pedigree (Santala’s father Tommi had a long and successful professional career as a center across the NHL), Finland, Switzerland, and even a stint in the KHL. Coming along as a product of Kiekko-Espoo (Santala recorded 12 points in 25 games playing alongside skaters three years his senior), good for 12th best on the team.

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.

The U.S. national rights were then held by NBC and OLN , later renamed Versus, then NBCSN, between the 2004–05 NHL lockout and 2021. The NHL primarily was then only available on cable television after 1981 (airing on the USA Network), SportsChannel America, and ESPN at various times. The league’s American broadcast partners had been in flux for decades prior to 1995. Games that are not broadcast as part of the national rights deal are broadcast by Sportsnet’s regional feeds, TSN’s regional feeds, and RDS.