NHL News

7:04 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment said Friday it will discontinue the proof of vaccination requirement for fans entering its venues, beginning March 1. MLSE owns the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA’s Toronto Raptors, Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. The move follows

7:51 PM ET NHL commissioner Gary Bettman upheld Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand‘s six-game suspension Friday, saying that his conduct was “intentional and involved an excessive and unnecessary use of force” against “an unsuspecting player.” Marchand was suspended by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Feb. 9 for punching and high-sticking Pittsburgh Penguins goalie

1:56 AM ET Jack Eichel is back in action. The center made his Vegas debut on Wednesday night, in a 2-0 Golden Knights’ loss to the Colorado Avalanche. It was Eichel’s first NHL game in nearly a year, following surgery on a herniated disk in his neck last November. He finished minus-one with one shot

1:58 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The NHL has fined Nashville Predators coach John Hynes $25,000 for inappropriate conduct at the end of a 4-1 loss to Washington. The league announced the fine Thursday. Hynes was assessed a game misconduct at the end of Tuesday night’s loss in Nashville. It was the Predators’

8:00 AM ET Mike Modano started his Hall of Fame NHL career with the Minnesota North Stars. They were a blast to watch back in the 1980s, with players like Neal Broten and Dino Ciccarelli scoring copious amounts of goals, until Norm Greed … er, Green … stole them from the “State of Hockey” and

7:00 AM ET Welcome to the second half of this 2021-22 NHL season, where hope springs eternal for all 32 teams. That’s right. Every franchise has at least one Reason For Optimism (RFO), and we’re here to highlight it alongside this week’s power rankings. From top performers to comeback stories to future considerations, there’s bound

7:00 AM ET Jack Eichel is ready for his Vegas debut. The center will suit up for the Golden Knights at home Wednesday against Colorado, in his first game action since March 7, 2021. Eichel, then with the Buffalo Sabres, suffered a herniated disk in his neck that night, and went through a prolonged disagreement

9:00 AM ET The fields for some NHL awards are narrowing and solidifying as the league heads deeper into its playoff races. The fields for other NHL awards … not so much. “I have no clue on the Hart Trophy at this point. I change my mind frequently,” lamented one voter we surveyed. Welcome to

2:23 AM ET ESPN News Services SAN JOSE, Calif. — Stuart Skinner made 20 saves in his first career shutout and the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 3-0 on Monday night in Evander Kane’s return to San Jose Kane was booed every time he touched the puck. He did not have a point

2:06 PM ET The Montreal Canadiens traded top-line winger Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a 2022 first-round draft choice (which is lottery-protected), a 2024 fifth-round pick, forward Tyler Pitlick and prospect Emil Heineman, the latter of whom landed in Calgary in the Sam Bennett trade last season. With the trade deadline

6:55 AM ET We’re more than halfway through the third straight pandemic-affected NHL season — but it finally feels like we’re tracking toward normalcy. We have (mostly) full arenas again, and a (mostly) typical 82-game schedule — save for those few weeks in December where a flurry of postponements threatened to wreak havoc on everything.

5:27 PM ET ESPN News Services DALLAS — Nathan MacKinnon had an assist in his return game and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Sunday, padding their lead atop the NHL. MacKinnon, 26, out since Jan. 26 with a concussion and a facial fracture, took his rightful place on Colorado’s top line,

12:15 PM ET Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — Flyers center Sean Couturier underwent back surgery on Friday and will miss the rest of the season. Couturier was the Flyers’ top line center but had missed the past 17 games with the injury. He ended the season with 17 points in 29 games. The Flyers are 3-11-3

2:03 AM ET Associated Press EDMONTON, Alberta — Cody Ceci and Zach Hyman each scored a goal, Mike Smith stopped 37 shots and the Edmonton Oilers beat the New York Islanders 3-1 Friday night. Jesse Puljujarvi also scored for the Oilers and Connor McDavid had two assists to help Jay Woodcroft get a win in

11:00 AM ET NHL Insiders USA Today Sports The Edmonton Oilers have changed coaches. Again. Dave Tippett is out. Jay Woodcroft is in. But is it all too little, too late to salvage a season gone drastically off the rails? Since Dec. 3, Edmonton is 7-13-3, has been outscored 85-60, and the team once expected

9:25 AM ET If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then consider Trevor Zegras quite flattered. Ever since the Anaheim Ducks rookie sent a pass over the Buffalo Sabres’ net to teammate Sonny Milano for a goal on Dec. 7 — on a move heretofore known as “The Zegras” — he’s been inundated with

6:24 AM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — Sheldon Kennedy wants to make something clear. He isn’t here to save hockey. That’s not what he does with the Respect Group. He just wants to help. Kennedy’s Respect Group has partnered with the NHL for a training program designed to help prevent bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination.

10:16 AM ET The NHL trade deadline is March 21. That’s a lot of runway for teams to fall out of playoff races, for general managers to lay the groundwork for deals and for rampant media conjecture about who stays and who goes. Here’s a look at the 10 most fascinating people at the trade