8:49 PM ET Jeremy WillisESPN.com The Philadelphia Flyers will not be going to the Stanley Cup playoffs and their season ends Monday night. Gritty, the Flyers’ mascot, is using the occasion to reflect on the season “I got naked (a lot), played in a ball pit, rode a mechanical bull, vacationed in Tahoe, hired (and
NHL News
7:04 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. The two games on Sunday didn’t do too much to solve our playoff and lottery mysteries. But there will be some significant fallout following the nine games on the schedule on Monday. The
2:47 PM ET Rick Tocchet will not return as head coach of the Arizona Coyotes, the team announced Sunday. Tocchet’s contract expires on June 30, and the Coyotes will begin their search for a new head coach immediately. “After meeting with Rick, we have agreed that a coaching change is in the best interest of
7:25 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. As expected, Saturday’s busy schedule produced a lot of progress in the standings. The Pittsburgh Penguins clinched the East Division crown, and the Toronto Maple Leafs did the same in the North Division.
11:38 PM ET John Tortorella will not return as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, a source told ESPN on Saturday night. There had been heavy speculation, in recent weeks, that Tortorella’s six-season tenure with the Blue Jackets would come to an end. He doesn’t have a contract for next season and Columbus finished in
7:51 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. Another night, another playoff spot clinched as we officially welcome the St. Louis Blues to the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Blues earned one point for their overtime loss to the Vegas Golden
7:05 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. Unlike previous nights, Thursday’s action around the NHL did not result in any teams clinching a playoff berth or any others being eliminated. But that could change Friday, with all eight teams of
7:10 AM ET When it comes to rooting interests in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, we can all agree on one of them: the health and safety of everyone participating, after a regular season that saw a parade of players on the COVID-related absences list and plenty of interruptions to the schedule. But beyond that,
7:00 AM ET When the IIHF Women’s World Championships in Nova Scotia were abruptly canceled on April 21 — just one day before Team USA was supposed to travel to Canada — many players felt it was another case of women’s hockey being treated as an afterthought. “A lot of people have asked, do you
8:30 AM ET Watching a New York Rangers rebuild is like watching someone learning how to drive. You know at some point there’s going to be an aggressive acceleration, and you’re just hoping it’s not before they figured out how to work the steering wheel. Hence, the departure of general manager Jeff Gorton this week,
7:03 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. The five NHL games of Tuesday night did not have the impact on the playoff races that Monday’s massive slate did, but we do have a new leader in the East, with the
7:10 AM ET Sach Chandan We’re into the final week-plus (for most teams) of the 2021 NHL season, and while 16 of them will be competing for the Stanley Cup this spring and summer, 15 of them will begin to devise their plan to get back in the playoff mix in 2021-22. Usually, it’s a
4:01 PM ET Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is eventually going to do something to an opponent that will result in him missing 40 games. Maybe 60 games. Maybe an entire season. But the NHL department of player safety is not the NHL department of pre-crime. It can’t suspend players based on what their actions
7:10 AM ET We are witnessing the final games of the 2021 NHL Awards season. As usual, they’re a time for both popular reinforcement of foregone conclusions and last-minute attempts at seeding doubt about assumed favorites. An example of the former: Connor McDavid is going to win the Hart Trophy in a landslide. We’ll discuss
6:52 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. Sunday’s NHL slate consisted of just one game, with the Tampa Bay Lightning defeating the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, to move into the No. 2 seed in the Central Division. With a little
7:00 AM ET The Dallas Stars were in the Edmonton postseason bubble last summer for 66 days, longer than any other team. Jason Robertson was there for all of it, but didn’t get a single minute of game action. “I took warm-ups for a couple games,” the 21-year-old said. “That was the closest I ever
1:13 PM ET Associated Press SEATTLE — The Seattle Kraken are free to make trades and sign players after making their final expansion payment to the NHL. Seattle owners paid $650 million to become the 32nd franchise. The Kraken begin play next season. “On behalf of the board of governors, I am delighted to officially
7:57 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. The NHL’s 15-game slate on Saturday was just as wild as we’d hoped, with six games requiring overtime or a shootout to decide the victor. And like a motion-sensing spotlight in an alley,