So here we are in mid-October and nobody’s playing hockey. Actually, that’s not entirely true. Joe Thornton is voting with his feet and is off to skate with Davos in the Swiss league. It’s really here in North America where the days of fall seem pretty empty without the beginning of a new hockey season.
A thought crossed Brendan Gallagher’s mind for the first time this week. The gritty, diminutive Montreal Canadiens winger has made a career out of going to the dirty areas of the ice where hockey can be nasty, mean and unforgiving. But as word leaked that negotiations on a new contract had stalled, Gallagher, who’s been
Defense wins championships. It’s a saying as old as hockey itself, but there is truth to this wisdom. A stout defense can both limit the opponent’s scoring chances while placing additional pressure on them in the offensive zone. When a defense is playing near perfection, it also helps ease some of the burdens on both
Winning in the NHL is anything but easy. When considering how hard it is to win each individual battle within the game while also trying to come out ahead in the games themselves over the course of a season, the difficulty level increases exponentially. This is why winning a Stanley Cup is something that has
The Philadelphia Flyers have had 13 Hockey Hall of Famers play for them at some point in their careers. This list includes legends, Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent and Bill Barber. However, there might be one more Flyer legend added to the list: Claude Giroux. There is a lot of disagreement regarding Giroux’s Hall of Fame
8:00 AM ET The 2020 NHL free-agent frenzy has started to mellow out. The flat salary cap had teams scrambling to find the right fits under less-than-ideal financial conditions, leaving some free agents waiting to see if lucrative opportunities would still materialize. Here are the top 10 unrestricted free agents still on the market as
The Toronto Marlies have signed forward Rich Clune to a one-year AHL contract. Clune enters his 14th professional season in 2020-21 and his sixth with the Marlies. He skated in 16 games for Toronto last year, notching three goals and one assist while serving as an alternate captain. A Toronto native, Clune has played 501
The San Jose Sharks have re-upped right-winger Kevin Labanc to a four-year contract worth $18.9 million. Labanc’s Bet on Himself Has Paid Off Handsomely Last July, after notching an impressive 17 goals and 39 assists for 56 points in 2018-19, Labanc inexplicably signed a paltry one-year, $1 million deal with the Sharks after the summation
The Montreal Canadiens have signed forward Brendan Gallagher to a six-year contract extension with an average annual value of $6.5 million US. The 28-year-old Gallagher had 43 points in 59 games with the Canadiens in 2019-20. His 22 goals were tied with Tomas Tatar for most on the club. It marked the third straight season
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, there is news surrounding Joe Thornton and his eventual return to the NHL. He’s making a stop in Switzerland but the Toronto Maple Leafs are rumored to be very interested in his services. Who are the favorites to land Mike Hoffman? If the Bruins, what does that mean for their
After almost three decades of bad coffee, bone-chilling rinks, long flights, cheap motels and death-defying drives through harsh Canadian winters, Al Murray is finally a Stanley Cup champion. Serving as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s director of amateur scouting since 2010, he is the architect behind the Lightning’s recent draft success and is responsible for identifying
The Metropolitan Riveters added a bonafide scoring threat in Kelly Babstock, whom they acquired in a trade with the Toronto Six on Oct.15. Babstock had signed with the Six back on May 2 after sitting out the past NWHL season. In return, Toronto will get the Riveters 1st Round pick in the 2021 NWHL Draft
6:29 PM ET Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley said he believes the 2020-21 NHL season will begin on Feb. 1, a full month after the NHL’s current “target date.” Foley told KSHP’s Vegas Hockey Hotline that he expects the season will be less than 60 games, saying it could be “48 or 56 games.”
The Florida Panthers have re-signed goaltender Philippe Desrosiers to a one-year, two-way contract. Desrosiers appeared in a career-high 29 games with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds in 2019-20, going 16-10-2 with a 3.05 goals-against average and ranking 12th in the league with a .916 save percentage. Desrosiers also ranked eighth in the league in shots faced
So many historic events occurred on Oct. 13 throughout National Hockey League. “Mr. Hockey” scored his first NHL goal in eight years, numerous big names lit the lamp for the first time in their careers, some legendary goaltenders earned shutouts and the first-ever All-Star Game was played in Toronto. Howe Gets Back in the Goal
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has suspended play in both of its Quebec-based divisions until at least Oct. 28 because of COVID-19. The league will continue play with five of six teams in the Maritimes Division. The Moncton Wildcats will not play for now because of New Brunswick government restrictions in the area. The
When the New York Rangers went out and signed left-handed defenseman Jack Johnson as a free agent, they once again fell into the pitfall of veteran presence. Young teams love to talk about getting a veteran to show their young players the ropes and teach them how to succeed and to be a “character guy” but
Ever since former Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli bounded up the stage in Buffalo on June 24, 2016, to announce the fourth-overall NHL Entry Draft pick with the same self-satisfied grin he had on his face the day he signed Milan Lucic to one of the worst NHL contracts in history, there has been