10:38 AM ET Eric GomezMexico writer Admittedly, new Arizona Coyotes president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez’s first sports love was soccer. It wasn’t until his freshman year at hockey-mad Harvard, where he earned a degree in government, that Gutierrez discovered the sport that would make him a trail blazer. “[Hockey] was just so fast, and there
NHL
7:15 AM ET More than 120 teams played professional hockey in North America during the 2019-20 season. List them in order of total games won and scroll down, all the way to the bottom, and you’ll find a team called the Battle Creek Rumble Bees. Their 1-45-2 record looks like a mistake in the standings
7:00 AM ET While his Tampa Bay Lightning players were filming viral videos on jet skis back in Florida, coach Jon Cooper has been situated in one of the least Florida-like locations in the U.S. during the NHL’s paused season. “Idaho,” Cooper told ESPN this week, indicating that it’s been a summer getaway for his
3:08 AM ET Associated Press NHL players won’t be expected to wear full face shields if games resume this summer, though there could be plenty of covered faces around them. Equipment changes have not been a focus of return-to-play negotiations between the league and players’ union, according to a person with knowledge of those talks.
10:41 PM ET Associated Press SEATTLE — The arena for Seattle’s expansion NHL team is behind schedule by a couple of months but is still expected to open in plenty of time for the team to begin play in the 2021-22 NHL season. Team President Tod Leiweke said there have been a few issues related
7:00 AM ET In a typical NHL offseason, there’s a two-month window that players and their partners view as the life-event safe zone. No games or training camps or league obligations on the schedule. The perfect time to plan a vacation or a wedding or, in the case of Jordie Benn and his fiancée, Jessica
10:00 AM ET Today’s game: Chicago Blackhawks at Edmonton Oilers, played on Feb. 11. The Blackhawks entered this game clinging on to the playoff bubble. They were in the second of a five-game Western Canadian swing, and desperately in need of points. The Oilers were in decent shape with a dynamite offense, but would have
12:32 AM ET Associated Press LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights signed tough guy Ryan Reaves on Monday to a two-year contract extension worth $3.5 million. He’ll count $1.75 million against the salary cap in each of the next two seasons. Reaves announced the new deal in a video on the Golden Knights’ Twitter
2:10 PM ET Dallas Stars defenseman Roman Polak told a Czech website that he will do everything he can to avoid returning to the NHL this summer to complete a restarted season, while announcing he had agreed to join a Czech league team for the 2020-21 season. “I am determined to stay at home. If
9:14 AM ET It has been 95 days since the NHL hit the pause button on the 2019-20 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. As the cancellations and postponements around the world of sports continue, there also have been continuous nuggets of new information regarding the potential resumption of the season, the draft, the playoffs
5:29 PM ET Associated Press An Arizona Coyotes staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolated at home in the Phoenix area. The staffer is asymptomatic and feeling well, the team said. All other staff members or players involved in Phase 2 of the NHL’s testing protocol have tested negative as teams prepare
11:59 AM ET ESPN will host a conversation with commissioners from the top United States sports leagues on Monday regarding resuming competition amid the coronavirus. “SportsCenter Special: The Return of Sports” will air from 9-11 p.m. ET on ESPN. Commissioners Roger Goodell (NFL), Adam Silver (NBA), Rob Manfred (MLB), Gary Bettman (NHL), Cathy Engelbert (WNBA)
7:00 AM ET ESPN staff Now’s your chance to play director of the 2020 ESPYS Presented by Capital One. Do you want to cast Simone Biles, Anthony Edwards, Dearica Hamby or a backyard magician in the starring role? You get to decide by voting for the winner of the year’s Can’t-Stop-Watching Moment. Today we introduce
1:33 PM ET Associated Press EDMONTON, Alberta — Edmonton Oilers prospect Cooper Marody has written a song in memory of teammate Colby Cave to raise money for a memorial fund. Cave, from Battleford, Saskatchewan, died April 11 in a Toronto hospital after suffering a brain bleed. He was 25. Marody’s song “Agape” will be released
11:52 AM ET The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association have announced that formal training camps for the 24 teams resuming play will begin on Friday, July 10, if conditions related to the coronavirus pandemic allow it. The league and its players are currently in Phase 2 of their “return to play” protocol, as NHL
7:15 AM ET The NHL Awards ballots were sent out this week to voters. I’m once again honored to have one through the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and have spent the past few days figuring out how to determine the regular season’s greatest performances when the 2019-20 campaign was stopped short by a global pandemic.
Jun 11, 2020 Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kim Pegula is staying on as Buffalo Sabres president, with a continued focus on making the small-market franchise economically sustainable, while facing criticism that the team has been mismanaged under her leadership. The team’s co-owner told The Associated Press in a recent interview that she believes she
10:43 PM ET Johnny Boychuk, who suffered a gruesome-looking eye injury just days before the NHL season was paused in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, told Newsday on Wednesday that he’s fully recovered and will be ready to play if the season resumes. The Islanders defenseman needed 90 stitches to repair a cut above