NHL News

9:00 AM ET Last February, St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench during a game against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center. Bouwmeester’s teammates waved for help, and a team of trainers and doctors sprung into choreographed action. Bouwmeester had suffered a cardiac episode, but within 60 seconds of his collapse,

7:00 AM ET We’re already one week into the 2021 NHL season, and it has felt like seven straight days of excitement, including some unexpected results. For this week’s NHL Power Rankings, we identified the biggest surprise for each team. How we rank: The ESPN hockey editorial staff submits selections ranking teams 1 to 31

6:41 PM ET Associated Press DENVER — Colorado and Minnesota swapped veteran defensemen on Tuesday, with the Avalanche acquiring Greg Pateryn and the Wild receiving Ian Cole. The trade represents a significant salary-cap savings for Colorado from Cole’s $4.25 million hit to Pateryn’s $2.25 million. It also frees up a spot on the left side

7:00 AM ET Chris Canfield has been an Arizona Coyotes season-ticket holder for several seasons. He believes there’s no better way to watch the NHL than live inside an arena. He adores the communal aspect of hockey fandom, as rows packed with friends and strangers rise up in one voice to support the team. But

3:55 PM ET Columbus Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois has requested a trade from the team, which is why interest around the league was piqued when he didn’t take a regular shift during the second period of the team’s 3-2 win over Detroit on Monday afternoon. Coach John Tortorella denied he “benched” the 22-year-old scorer.

7:00 AM ET Milan Hejduk was the last remaining member of the 2001 Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche to stay on the roster. But entering the 2012-13 season, Hejduk knew he would have a diminished role. He called teammate Gabriel Landeskog and told him to meet him and then-coach Joe Sacco for a meeting at the

11:02 PM ET Florida Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle scored his 100th career goal and kept his consecutive games streak alive in their season-opening win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, just days after it appeared he might be a healthy scratch. Yandle scored the second goal in the Panthers’ 5-2 home victory over the Blackhawks,

4:56 PM ET The Dallas Stars will open their season Jan. 22 against the Nashville Predators after their first four games had to be rescheduled due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the team. In training camp, 17 members of the Stars tested positive for COVID-19, which forced the team to shut down its facilities for

5:00 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jared McCann has been fined $10,000 for elbowing Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, the NHL announced Saturday. The incident occurred at 14:32 of the second period of Friday’s game in Philadelphia. McCann was assessed a minor penalty for elbowing. The fine is the maximum

3:04 AM ET ESPN News Services St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly was critical of his team’s effort in Friday night’s 8-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, saying that the Blues “embarrassed ourselves” in the second game of the season. “That was very disappointing,” O’Reilly said. “We came into the game and you could just

8:03 PM ET The Ottawa Senators honored the memory of celebrity fan and “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who died last November, with a moment of silence before their season-opening game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night. Trebek, 80, died on Nov. 8, almost two years after revealing he had pancreatic cancer. He surprised

9:12 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — St. Louis Blues forward Sammy Blais was suspended for two games without pay by the NHL on Thursday for an illegal check to the head of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews. Blais received a minor penalty for elbowing in the first-period incident in the Blues’ 4-1 victory

7:15 AM ET The 2021 NHL rookie class is really fun — but also really complicated. The introduction of taxi squads and delayed starts to Canadian junior hockey has given NHL teams more roster flexibility than they often have at this stage of the season. And the rollout of the flat salary cap has placed

9:43 AM ET Everything you’re about to read can change in a cough. That’s the reality of the 2021 NHL season, which is being played inside (mostly) empty arenas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The league released the names of 27 players who began the season with a “COVID Protocol Related Absence,” and that’s not including

7:00 AM ET NHL Insiders The puck drops on the 2020-21 NHL season this week, a season that will be unique in a great many ways: new divisions, a new playoff format, ads on helmets and much more. But we’re looking way ahead, answering the big questions: Who will win the Stanley Cup? Who are

7:00 AM ET The 2021 NHL season is here! After awarding the Stanley Cup in September following a most unusual 2019-20 season, we’re back on the ice again. Four new divisions, 56-game schedules and, most importantly, 116 consecutive nights of NHL games, beginning Wednesday. For our first week of power rankings, we offer a reason

7:21 PM ET The NHL announced that 27 players had confirmed positive COVID-19 tests during training camps, which concluded Tuesday. Of those players, 17 were members of the Dallas Stars, who shut down their training facilities last Friday after an outbreak. Dallas’ first three games — at Florida on Thursday and Friday and at Tampa

9:40 AM ET It’s challenging to keep up with the news during a typical NHL offseason. It’s doubly challenging to do so when that offseason begins in late September, ends in mid-January and every day in between presents another focus-devouring distraction from pressing issues like which team signed Radko Gudas. (Spoiler: It was the Florida