7:00 AM ET With the All-Star Weekend in the rearview mirror, teams are hunkering down for a big stretch run. Plenty of teams are still in the race, so it should be a good one. For this week’s column, I did a big notebook dump to tell you about the 10 storylines I’ll be following
NHL
11:14 PM ET ESPN News Services Alex Ovechkin not only led the Washington Capitals to a win Friday night, he made a significant jump up the NHL career goals list. Ovechkin scored two goals in the Capitals’ 5-3 win in Ottawa to pass Mark Messier for No. 8 on the list with 695 career goals.
7:00 AM ET The St. Louis Blues‘ Stanley Cup victory last season has affected the NHL as if someone poured hallucinogens into its water supply. It has created delusions of grandeur, making any team that’s seemingly out of it by the end of January feel as if, theoretically, it could be very much in it
2:57 PM ET The San Jose Sharks‘ disappointing season just took another hit with news that forward Tomas Hertl is done for the season after suffering a knee injury Wednesday. The team announced that he suffered a torn ACL and MCL. Hertl got a shot off with 13:43 left in the first period and then
10:17 PM ET The Los Angeles Kings walked into Staples Center on Wednesday night donning Kobe Bryant Lakers jerseys prior to their game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning. Some Kings wore gold jerseys, others wore the alternate white ones, with a sizable mix of Nos. 8 and 24 on the back. It was the Kings’
9:38 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty will not be in the Kings’ lineup against Tampa Bay, ending the longest consecutive games played streak in franchise history. Coach Todd McLellan said Doughty will not play Wednesday night against the Lightning because of an undisclosed injury. Doughty, who has not
7:26 PM ET Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin honored the late Kobe Bryant by swapping his No. 8 jersey for the No. 24 during warm-ups on Wednesday night, ahead of the team’s home game against the Nashville Predators. The jersey will be signed and put up for auction, with proceeds benefiting the Kobe & Vanessa
7:05 AM ET http://www.espn.com/nhl/player/_/id/2590835/sami-vatanen Now that the 2020 NHL All-Star Weekend is in the rearview mirror, the league’s trade season is underway in earnest. The next several games for each team will be pivotal, as general managers decide whether their teams should be buyers, improving their chances for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, or sellers, perhaps
12:20 PM ET Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres starting goalie Linus Ullmark will miss three to four weeks with an injury to his right leg. The team issued the update without revealing the nature of the injury Wednesday, a day after Ullmark was hurt in a 5-2 loss to Ottawa. Ullmark was untouched
5:20 PM ET St. Louis Blues forward Sammy Blais has been activated from injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday. Blais, 23, missed 28 games while recovering from surgery on his right wrist. He played 20 games before the injury, posting five goals and eight points for the Western Conference-leading Blues. St. Louis went 17-8-3 in
7:00 AM ET MOSCOW — When U.S. national team defender Megan Bozek signed with the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays of the Russian-based Women’s Hockey League in November, she met the team in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, for an away game. Bozek and fellow American teammate Alex Carpenter dropped off their equipment at the hotel’s front desk.
11:00 AM ET ST. LOUIS — When an Achilles tendon injury last October put WWE star Xavier Woods out of action, he had one request about his downtime. “I told WWE when I got hurt that I’d do anything hockey. Please dear lord, help me go to hockey stuff,” he said. Three weeks ago, the
5:29 PM ET Seldom-used forward Travis Boyd, in the lineup because Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had to serve a one-game suspension, scored his third goal of the season as Washington outlasted the Canadiens 4-2 on Monday in Montreal. The win was Washington’s fourth in a row, and it padded the Capitals’ lead atop the NHL
7:30 AM ET NHL Insiders The New York Rangers might not quite be in the Stanley Cup playoff picture, but they appear to have themselves a goalie controversy. Henrik Lundqvist‘s gradual decline combined with the emergence of young backup Alexandar Georgiev and the call-up of talented prospect Igor Shesterkin has left them with some decisions
7:30 AM ET If you have a top-two pick in the 2020 NHL draft, you can likely land yourself a franchise cornerstone piece. After that? Expect a wide range of opinions and very little consensus. Canadian forwards Alexis Lafreniere and Quinton Byfield are certainly the top tier in this class, followed by a smattering of
Jun 5, 2019 ST. LOUIS — Perhaps you saw Barclay when he made his home debut in December. Then just three months old, the yellow Labrador retriever was frolicking around the ice with the St. Louis Blues at practice, chasing and gnawing on Brayden Schenn‘s stick, carrying a puck in his teeth and, yes, slipping
Jan 10, 2019 Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has worked his butt off to be the best hockey player in the world. He has consulted with a skills coach since age 11. Coaches gush over his effectiveness with crossovers; he pivots and cuts as well as anyone. A six-second clip of his edge work posted