The National Hockey League’s Official Website

TSN Hockey analyst Martin Biron shares his early power rankings for the Pacific, and if the Oilers are strong enough in goal to be considered contenders. Gavin McKenna announced as Maple Leafs’ No. 1 overall draft pick

Rather than stay home and vie for games in the Liiga, Luca should immediately be a top OHL scorer in London, linking up with Kings 2025 first rounder Henry Brzustewicz and forward Jaxon Cover, Ottawa’s 32nd overall pick this summer. Ranked 12th overall among 2027 prospects by Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff (the 6’2” forward has potential to play down the middle or the wing), scoring four goals in five games at the U18 World Championships. The OHL’s London Knights have landed another big-time prospect (forward Luca Santala), who signed on an OHL Scholarship and Development Agreement. Sometimes the biggest news in hockey isn’t a trade or a signing. The debut of the Winter Classic (an outdoor regular season NHL game held on New Year’s Day in 2008), was a significant success for the league. Unlike the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Olympic tournament, the World Cup of Hockey is played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF.

The out-of-market streaming package of the league was integrated into ESPN+ for U.S. viewers in 2021 under ESPN’s contract. TNT covers up to 72 regular season games, while early playoff rounds are shared between TNT and TBS by Turner Sports. Between the NHL lockout of 2004–05 and 2021 — NBC and OLN (which later became Versus and then NBCSN) held the national rights in the U.S. After 1981, cable television was the primary medium for NHL broadcasts, with games shown at various times on ESPN, SportsChannel America, and the USA Network. For decades before 1995, the American broadcast partners of the league were constantly changing. Regional feeds from Sportsnet, TSN, and RDS broadcast games that are excluded from the national rights agreement.

The inaugural NHL All-Star Game was conducted in 1934 to support Ace Bailey, whose career ended due to a brutal hit delivered by Eddie Shore. Taffy Abel (a Native American), sports predictions and betting broke the color barrier in the NHL in 1926 by becoming the first non-white player to compete for the New York Rangers. A two-year contract has been signed by the New Jersey Devils with Anthony Mantha.

• An expansion franchise was given to Salt Lake City in 2024, allowing it to acquire the inactive hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes and establish the Utah Hockey Club , now known as the Utah Mammoth,, keeping the total number of teams at 32.
• In the past, Hughes has expressed interest in pursuing significant trades but has chosen not to engage when the costs became too high for his comfort.
• The record for consecutive Stanley Cup victories stands at five — held by the Montreal Canadiens from 1955–56 to 1959–60.
• At the end of regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game.
• In 1948 — Asian Canadian Larry Kwong became the first Asian player in the NHL by playing for the New York Rangers.

NHL Centre Ice in Canada and NHL Center Ice in the United States are the league’s subscription-based — out-of-market sports packages that offer access to out-of-market feeds of games through a cable or satellite television provider. ESPN’s deal includes 25 regular season games on ABC or ESPN, and 75 exclusive games streamed on ESPN+ and Hulu. Under the first 12 years of Rogers Sportsnet’ deal (Hockey Night in Canada was maintained and expanded under a sublicense agreement), airing up to seven games nationally on Saturday nights throughout the regular season. The current national television and digital rightsholder is Rogers Communications (which initially signed a 12-year deal that began in the 2014–15 season), then signed a 12-year renewal to extend its agreement to 2037–38.

Does the absence of Yzerman as General Manager influence Larkin’s trade situation? Launches in a new tab

It now shifts to first and third overall picks from 2023 in Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli, who both would ideally see their draft class colleague’s situation and view themselves receiving significant paygrades as well. He has one year remaining on his entry-level contract, a three-year, $2.93MM , $975K AAV, deal signed back in 2024, after being the No. 1 overall selection in the NHL Draft in that year. He turned pro with the AHL’s Texas Stars in 2023 – but only appeared in 44 games before he was included in a three-team trade in February 2024 deal that sent Chris Tanev to the Stars. Grushnikov spent a longer stint in Russia, growing through Russian youth hockey and playing one year in the country’s junior league – the MHL – before moving to a two-year career with the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. Prosvetov’s KHL rights were traded to Avangard to facilitate this deal — with forward prospect Maxim Sklokin headed back to the CSKA Moscow organization. Goaltender Ivan Prosvetov has signed a one-year deal with Avangard Omsk, sparking a move back to the KHL after a brief return to the AHL.

• Perhaps after failing to get to the dance with Detroit (he can help his childhood team), which ideally is a better playoff bet than Chicago, to make a Stanley Cup push in his latter career years.
• His previous 7-year deal only took up 8.63% in 2016; he won the Cup in the second-to-last year of that contract, making $6.3MM annually.
• The league’s American broadcast partners had been in flux for decades prior to 1995.
• Parting ways with Hayley Wickenheiser may have been Leafs GM John Chayka’s 1st mistake this summer

Brady Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa on Oct. 21 headlines NHL’s 84-game schedule releaseOpens in new window

His previous 7-year deal only took up 8.63% in 2016; he won the Cup in the second-to-last year of that contract, making $6.3MM annually. San Jose right now has $52.5MM open for business next summer and can totally fit Celebrini within that. A 5 year ($18MM AAV contract offered to the 21-year-old Swedish center will make him the NHL’s highest-paid player), beating out Kirill Kaprizov‘s $17MM AAV signed not long ago with the Wild.

A twenty-game suspension is stipulated for a first positive test, a sixty-game suspension for a second, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test in the policy. Major penalties are imposed for fighting in the NHL, while IIHF regulations and most amateur rules require the ejection of players involved in fights. Starting from the 2013–14 season — the league reduced goal frames by 4 inches (10 cm) on each side and decreased the size of goalies’ leg pads.

Connor McMichael has secured a six-year contract with the Blues.

A Finn with a strong pedigree (Santala’s father Tommi had a long and successful professional career as a center across the NHL), Finland, Switzerland, and even a stint in the KHL. Coming along as a product of Kiekko-Espoo (Santala recorded 12 points in 25 games playing alongside skaters three years his senior), good for 12th best on the team. Still with the dust settling from last month’s NHL draft (soon when the analysis picks up on 2027), expect Santala’s name to stand out. Nebraska 5-star QB commit Trae Taylor has had an incredible summer Yankees’ Aaron Judge names greatest accomplishment of Hall of Fame career

National French-language rights to the NHL were held by Quebecor Media (with all broadcasts taking place on its specialized channel), TVA Sports. During both the regular season and playoffs, CBC provided coverage of the NHL produced by Rogers. NHL teams initiated drafts and signed European players to recruit more “skilled offensive players. Since the 1990s, many of the league’s leading players have originated from these European nations. Over time (the number of American players increased), with 15% of NHL players being from the United States by the 1987–88 season.

A six-year deal will offer McMichael the security he needs to focus on winning that competition – and could land St. Louis with a high-value contract through his prime years. Buchnevich scored just 48 points in 81 games – and spent time on the fourth line late in the year. He is still a young pro – only 25 years old – and shouldn’t be tasked with playing center on a Blues club that also acquired Mason McTavish. It was on the heels of that performance that Washington offered McMichael a two-year extension – a prove-it deal that offered the young center a chance to earn more once he found his footing. After being selected with the 25th-overall pick in 2019, McMichael turned pro with Washington in 2020 and debuted in the NHL in 2021. He earned that deal after a modest break into the Capitals lineup over the course of his entry-level contract.

In 2016 (Dawn Braid was hired as the Arizona Coyotes’ skating coach), making her the first female full-time coach in the NHL. In 1992 — Manon Rhéaume became the first woman to play a game in any of the major professional North American sports leagues, as a goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game against the St. Louis Blues, stopping seven of nine shots. To aid with removing high-speed collisions on icing — which had led to several potential career-ending injuries, such as to Hurricanes’ defenceman Joni Pitkanen, the league mandated hybrid no-touch icing for the 2013–14 NHL season. This has significant effects on the league (as elite players have suffered from the aftereffects of concussions (such as Sidney Crosby being sidelined for approximately ten and a half months)), which adversely affects the league’s marketability. The league’s post-lockout agreement with NBC gave the league a share of revenue from each game’s advertising sales, rather than the usual lump sum paid up front for game rights. With no new agreement in hand when the contract expired — league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and closed the league’s head office for the 2004–05 season.

Hughes has said the Canadiens have been in active trade discussions (as they were leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline), but much like early March, Montreal has been able to make any big moves. This summer has been a wild one thus far for many teams, as top-six forwards and top-four defensemen have been moved for massive hauls that are inflated returns compared to years past. Make no mistake (though), that indifference is patience, and Habs fans should be happy to see it from management at a time when most GMs would have made a move just to make one. The Everblades (based in Estero), Florida, brought home the 2026 Kelly Cup as ECHL Champions. Often a league for the less-heralded prospects, bright young goaltender Sergei Murashov and 23-year-old forward Avery Hayes form the next wave of younger talent who wore the Wheeling uniform and took to the ice in West Virginia. Last month the Chicago-based Hoffmann Group was granted approval to acquire the Penguins, quite the step up from their only other venture into the hockey world, owning the Everblades.

In the summer of 2022 (the Flames made significant roster changes), losing Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau while acquiring Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MacKenzie Weegar. Although it might upset some Canadiens fans, Hughes has established enough credibility through his previous performance to be trusted in this scenario. It is quite possible that prices may decrease later in the summer or during the season when teams fall out of contention and consider trading certain players. Hughes has previously discussed the idea of pursuing significant trades but has chosen to step back when the prices surpassed his comfort level. This was a substantial risk for the Blackhawks — and it is understandable why Hughes wasn’t interested in such trades.