NHL, players provide optimism for new CBA
The NHL’s collective bargaining agreement does not expire until Sept. 15, 2026. That discussions are set to begin on a new deal in early 2025 is already one step ahead of where hockey has been in labor negotiations in the past. Commissioner Gary Bettman earlier this week said he expects...
St. Louis Blues fire Drew Bannister and hire Jim Montgomery as coach
The St. Louis Blues have fired coach Drew Bannister and hired Jim Montgomery as his replacement just five days after the 2022 Jack Adams Award winner was let go by the Boston Bruins. Blues president and general manager Doug Armstrong announced the stunning change Sunday. He is expected to address...
Alex Ovechkin is expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks with a broken left legVideo
Alex Ovechkin has a broken left fibula and is expected to be out four to six weeks, an injury that pauses the Washington Capitals superstar captain’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record. The Capitals updated Ovechkin’s status Thursday after he was evaluated by team doctors upon returning from...
Canucks’ J.T. Miller takes indefinite leave from team for personal reasonsVideo
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Vancouver Canucks center J.T. Miller (Coraopolis) is taking an indefinite leave from the team for personal reasons, the team announced Tuesday. General manager Patrik Allvin said the team’s focus is making sure Miller knows “the entire organization is here to support him.” Miller, 31, has six...
Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin is week-to-week with a leg injury amid chase for NHL career goals record
Alex Ovechkin is considered week-to-week after injuring his lower left leg in the Washington Capitals’ most recent game at Utah, an absence that is expected to slow down his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record. The Capitals said Tuesday that Ovechkin would be evaluated further by doctors when...
First Call: Steelers LB Patrick Queen fires back at Bart Scott; Justin Fields ready if needed in ClevelandVideo
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen has some beef with former Baltimore Raven Bart Scott. Justin Fields is ready for an expanded role if called upon in Cleveland. The Penguins are preparing for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. And Alex Ovechkin scores twice more before getting hurt. All that...
First Call: Pens have a chance to heat up; Steelers work out former DB; will T.J. Watt get a few calls this week?Video
The Pittsburgh Steelers may be interested in bringing back a familiar face. There’s an interesting trend about the officiating crew for the team’s game against Baltimore on Sunday. The Penguins’ schedule is about to play into their hands. Now, can they actually do something with it? That’s a different conversation....
First Call: Commanders lament pivotal plays against Steelers; Kenny Pickett enters game for EaglesVideo
A pair of Washington Commanders are facing the music after some plays didn’t go their way in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Kenny Pickett closes out a win for the Eagles. Things aren’t too great in Dallas with the way the Cowboys are playing lately. Meanwhile, Dallas’...
Alex Ovechkin scoring, helping teammates during Capitals’ hot startVideo
ARLINGTON, Va. — Alex Ovechkin approached linemates Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas after the second game of the Washington Capitals’ season to do some film study. The trio who had never before played together watched their shifts from that game, and Ovechkin thought they needed to be more predictable, hesitate...
Oilers star Connor McDavid is expected to miss 2-3 weeks with an ankle injuryVideo
EDMONTON, Alberta — Connor McDavid is expected to miss two to three weeks with an ankle injury, the Edmonton Oilers said Wednesday. McDavid, the reigning playoff MVP who led Edmonton to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, was injured Monday night when he was tripped and went left skate...
Connor McDavid injured in the Oilers’ game at the Blue JacketsVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Connor McDavid left the Edmonton Oilers’ game at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night after getting injured on the first shift. McDavid was chasing the puck past the Blue Jackets blue line when he tripped over Zach Werenski’s extended stick and slid into the boards left...
Stanley Cup champion Panthers and coach Paul Maurice agree on contract extensionVideo
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers have given out another big extension, this one to their Stanley Cup-winning coach. Paul Maurice and the Panthers agreed on an extended contract, the team announced Tuesday. Maurice was in the final year of a three-year deal, and it was a certainty that the...
U mad, bro?: Steelers QBs, Pirates ownership, Penguins goalies — the holy trinity of Pittsburgh sports fan angst
A Pittsburgh Steelers win when they score more than 30 points is pretty rare. What’s even more rare is when that happens, and half the fan base still wants to change quarterbacks. But that’s what we have this week in Pittsburgh. So, despite a successful Vegas vacation, there is still...
Quest to replace goalies is key to RMU hockey in Year 2 of relaunch
For the Robert Morris men’s hockey team, very little was known going into the program’s relaunch of a season last year. One thing the players and coaches did know is that they had Chad Veltri in the net. The Niagara transfer goalie from Fox Chapel came back to Pittsburgh to...
Bill introduced to award 1980 ‘Miracle On Ice’ U.S. hockey team with Congressional Gold Medals
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday to award Congressional Gold Medals to the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team that defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York, at a period of high tension during the Cold...
A more comfortable Connor Bedard is hoping to put together a big second season with the BlackhawksVideo
CHICAGO — Connor Bedard was one of the first players on the ice Monday. He also was one of the last to leave when practice was over. In many ways, Bedard is the same guy as he begins his second season with the Chicago Blackhawks. In some subtle ways, he...
After record-breaking season, NHL eyes more: ‘You’ve got to do it better’Video
Aleksander Barkov lifted the Stanley Cup over his head, passed it around to his Panthers teammates and hockey’s holy grail got a new home in South Florida. The next morning, Matthew Tkachuk gave it a saltwater bath in the Atlantic Ocean. Commissioner Gary Bettman woke up after what former player-turned-analyst...
Devils beat Sabres in NHL regular-season opener in PragueVideo
PRAGUE — Paul Cotter had a goal and an assist in his Devils debut as New Jersey beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1, on Friday in the NHL regular-season opener played in the Czech Republic capital. After former NHL great Jaromir Jagr, who still plays in the Czech league, dropped a...
Canada ending its NHL title drought? AP predicts the Stanley Cup champion and top award winnersVideo
The NHL season begins in Prague, makes a stop in Finland in November and there are more than 1,200 games to be played around North America. The Florida Panthers raise their first Stanley Cup championship banner, and the Utah Hockey Club plays its first game since moving from Arizona as...
Devils meet Sabres in Prague to open NHL regular seasonVideo
PRAGUE — Ondrej Palat has won the Stanley Cup twice. He’s won a gold medal with the Czech Republic at the world championships. This week, the forward will check another item on his bucket list when his New Jersey Devils and the Buffalo Sabres open the NHL regular season with...
Alex Ovechkin has scored on a lot of goalies. They are in awe of him as he chases Gretzky’s record
Alex Ovechkin’s teammates have gotten used to him passing hockey greats and reaching new milestones on a regular basis. The greatest of the great is yet to come. All eyes are on Ovechkin as he closes in on Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record of 894. He is just 42...
Sharks’ Celebrini and Smith and Canadiens’ Slafkovsky headline the NHL’s next generation of starsVideo
Juraj Slafkovsky was an NHL draft pick, just like Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard. The spotlight, however, has not been quite as bright or the hype train as strong for him in Montreal. “I like it that way,” Slafkovsky said. Regardless of...
Utah Hockey Club knows it finally has home in Salt Lake City
SALT LAKE CITY — Defenseman Sean Durzi got a taste of the NHL in Salt Lake City when he and the Kings played the Golden Knights in a 2022 preseason game. Durzi had a goal and two assists in Los Angeles’ 6-4 loss to Vegas, but more than his play...
Driver charged with killing Johnny Gaudreau had .087 blood-alcohol level
PHILADELPHIA — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday. Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed near...
John and Matthew Gaudreau mourned by the hockey community, family and friends at their funeral
MEDIA, Pa. — John and Matthew Gaudreau were remembered as loving brothers and husbands who put family above hockey and everything else at a tearful funeral held Monday, a week and a half after they died when they were struck by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in their...
