NHL News

3:39 PM ET The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that forward Zac Rinaldo, who has chosen not to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, will remain under contract but not play for them or their AHL affiliate to start the season. Rinaldo, 31, signed a one-year, $750,000 free-agent contract with the Jackets in the offseason. But the team

8:25 AM ET As the 2021-22 NHL season opens, the Arizona Coyotes are the only team with plans to fully relax their game-day dress code for players, according to an ESPN survey of all 32 teams. The NHL is the only one among the four North American major men’s professional sports league with a strict

7:00 AM ET Aesthetics matter in hockey. The player with the wooliest thicket of playoff beard competes with the might of King Leonidas of Sparta. The team that gets the spiffy state-of-the-art arena stands just a bit taller in its skates. I think the New York Islanders are a playoff team this season not because

12:50 PM ET Defenseman Jalen Smereck of HC Donbass said he won’t play another game in the Ukrainian Hockey League until Kremenchuk forward Andrei Deniskin is “removed from the league” for making a racist gesture to him on Sunday. In the second period of their game, Deniskin shouted at Smereck, who is Black, and then

9:12 AM ET The Ukrainian Hockey League has suspended HC Kremenchuk forward Andrei Deniskin for a minimum of three games for making a racist gesture at defenseman Jalen Smereck of HC Donbass in a game Sunday. The suspension includes an additional 10 games that Deniskin can avoid serving if he pays a fine. In the

4:10 PM ET NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood said that he has chosen not to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, making him potentially unavailable for some of his team’s games this season. The 24-year-old starter said he’s “not currently” vaccinated, leaving open the possibility that he could still get the vaccine. He

7:00 AM ET Ranking the NHL’s goaltending tandems used to be a predictable process: Pencil in the Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars and whoever the Tampa Bay Lightning have playing with Andrei Vasilevskiy at the top, and then figure out the rest. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for the rest of the NHL,

9:11 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Kevin Lankinen practiced Monday after he was removed from the COVID-19 protocol list. Lankinen had been held out since Friday. His absence doesn’t necessarily mean he tested positive for COVID-19. General manager Stan Bowman said last week that the team was 100% vaccinated. The 26-year-old

4:40 PM ET HC Kremenchuk forward Andrei Deniskin is facing disciplinary action from the Ukrainian Hockey League after making a racist gesture toward American-born defenseman Jalen Smereck of HC Donbass, who is Black. In the second period of their game on Sunday, Deniskin shouted at Smereck and then pantomimed unpeeling a banana and eating it.

12:45 AM ET Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. — The concourses of the Spokane Arena were jammed. The merchandise lines snaked through the crowds, causing bottlenecks as fans filed in for their first glimpse of the Seattle Kraken. There seems to be little doubt about the popularity and reach of the NHL’s newest franchise, even when

4:19 PM ET ESPN News Services OTTAWA, Ontario — The Ottawa Senators acquired Zach Sanford on Saturday, sending St. Louis native Logan Brown to the Blues in exchange for the veteran forward. St. Louis also received a conditional 2022 draft pick from Ottawa. Sanford had 10 goals and 16 points in 52 games for the

8:10 PM ET ESPN News Services ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues signed longtime president of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong to a five-year contract extension Saturday. Armstrong, 57, was named the organization’s 11th general manager after the 2009-10 season after joining the Blues as assistant general manager in 2008. “When I

6:03 AM ET Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — French official Luc Tardif was elected president of the International Ice Hockey Federation on Saturday ahead of the return of NHL players to the Olympics in February. Tardif, who was born and raised in Canada, beat German candidate Franz Reindl by 67 votes to 39 in

6:10 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — An attorney who represents a former Chicago Blackhawks player who alleges he was sexually assaulted by a then-assistant coach in 2010 says her client has been interviewed as part of the team’s review of the accusations. A former federal prosecutor has been hired by the Blackhawks to conduct

12:18 PM ET Philadelphia Flyers forward Kevin Hayes admitted it was a conversation that he had been dreading, but on Friday he spoke for the first time about the death of his brother Jimmy Hayes last month. “My brother was a special person. He touched a lot of lives,” Kevin Hayes said in an emotional

8:00 AM ET NEW YORK — Getting a photo with an NHL star would be on the short list of life goals for many hockey fans. At the league’s new retail space at One Manhattan West, that dream can become a reality. Well, an augmented reality, at least. When the NHL moved its corporate headquarters

7:00 AM ET Everyone has their favorite harbingers that a new NHL season is upon us. Fresh ice. Awkward player photos. Unsigned restricted free agents threatening to sit out of meaningless games. Optimism in Toronto. Mine? The preseason penalty crackdown. Every year, the NHL’s hockey operations department, egged on by disgruntled and aggrieved general managers,

7:22 PM ET The NHL completed its gambling investigation of Evander Kane and says it has found no evidence that the San Jose Sharks forward bet on his own games. The investigation, which was conducted by Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, in conjunction with NHL Security, was spurred by allegations in social media posts