NHL

5:43 PM ET ESPN News Services PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to a two-year contract extension on Saturday. The deal carries an average annual value of $800,000 and runs through the 2023-24 season. The extension also gives the 31-year-old some stability. He spent the majority of his first five seasons in

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

4:30 PM ET Associated Press MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens added Nick Bobrov and former NHL star Vincent Lecavalier to their front office Friday. Bobrov will serve as co-director of amateur scouting while Lecavalier becomes a special adviser to hockey operations. Bobrov will share the scouting position with Martin Lapointe. He joins the Canadiens after

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

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

9:33 PM ET Associated Press BEIJING — International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif said Thursday he is optimistic NHL players will participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, though he wants an agreement reached further in advance than this time around. The league, NHL Players’ Association, IIHF and IOC worked out

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

2:30 AM ET ESPN News Services CALGARY, Alberta — Tyler Toffoli had a stirring debut with the Calgary Flames. Toffoli, acquired from Montreal a day earlier, scored, and the Flames won their season-high seventh straight game, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 on Tuesday night. “Obviously, coming to a really good team playing really good

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

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

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

12:00 AM ET ESPN News Services BOSTON — Dylan Peterson scored with 2:48 remaining and Boston University edged three-time defending champion Northeastern 1-0 on Monday night in the 69th annual Beanpot Championship. Vinny Duplessis stopped all 20 shots he faced as the Terriers won their 31st Beanpot title and first since 2015. The Terriers (17-10-3)

1:31 PM ET Tyler Toffoli is on his way to Calgary. The Montreal Canadiens traded top-line winger Toffoli to the Flames on Monday in exchange for a 2022 first-round draft choice (which is top-10 protected), a 2024 fifth-round pick, forward Tyler Pitlick and prospect Emil Heineman. There was no salary retained in the trade. Toffoli

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,

3:47 PM ET ESPN News Services OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa Senators forward Austin Watson has been suspended two games for a hit on Boston’s Jack Ahcan. The NHL announced the suspension on Sunday. Watson leveled Ahcan along the end boards midway through the first period of Ottawa’s 2-0 loss to the Bruins on Saturday. He