NHL

1:53 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — Stan Bowman has a new job title and the same goal to set the Blackhawks back on a championship course. He insists no one is hungrier than he is to see it happen. “I’m very determined, very focused and extremely competitive,” Bowman said Friday. “The challenge is what’s

8:26 AM ET The NHL told its seven Canadian-based teams on Thursday that there is a possibility they will have to play in the United States this season due to roadblocks with Canadian health authorities, sources told ESPN. The NHL had been hoping to play a 56-game season starting on Jan. 13 with teams playing

6:13 PM ET The Florida Panthers have agreed to a one-year contract with winger Anthony Duclair, general manager Bill Zito announced Thursday. According to multiple reports, Duclair will make $1.7 million in 2020-21. Duclair was an All-Star for the first time last season while posting a career-high 23 goals for the Ottawa Senators. “Anthony is

1:19 PM ET The next chapter of Henrik Lundqvist‘s NHL career is on hold because of a heart condition that will prevent him from playing for the Washington Capitals this season. The longtime New York Rangers goalie posted the news on social media Thursday. “It breaks my heart (literally) to share this news: I will

10:23 AM ET Alexander Steen, who won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, has announced his retirement due to a back injury suffered last season. Steen ends a 15-year NHL career that began with the Toronto Maple Leafs and ended with over 11 seasons in St. Louis, including the title-winning run

7:15 AM ET As the NHL inches closer to the 2020-21 season, the rest of the hockey world has been in flux. With many North American junior leagues either not yet started or frequently interrupted by postponements or cancellations, and European pro leagues doing all they can to complete seasons, tracking prospects has never been

2:46 PM ET Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild signed goalie Andrew Hammond to a one-year, two-way contract Wednesday, adding insurance at the position in light of a long-term injury for Alex Stalock. The Wild announced Stalock, who took over as their primary goalie down the stretch last season, has an upper-body

1:37 PM ET The Chicago Blackhawks are doubling down on Stan Bowman, elevating him to president of hockey operations in a front-office reorganization. Bowman had been general manager and will retain that title as well. The Blackhawks split the duties of the previous president John McDonough, who was fired in April. Bowman will handle the

7:00 AM ET The National Hockey League’s young talent pool is basically as deep as the Mariana Trench at this point. There are franchise players, superstars, championship building blocks and game-changers in those depths, and more arrive every year in the draft. Consider that last year’s list of the top 25 players under 25 years

3:57 PM ET Associated Press DENVER — Pierre Lacroix, the astute executive who was the architect of two Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup championship teams, has died. He was 72. The Avalanche confirmed his death Sunday. No cause of death was given. Lacroix was a driving force behind turning the Avalanche into a perennial power after

7:00 AM ET There is no “best and worst of 2020.” Every “worst” doesn’t quite do justice to how challenging this year was, in every way imaginable and previously unimaginable. Every “best” has a caveat anchored to it. What does that even look like? “Best: No one tested positive for COVID-19 while the NHL was

7:15 AM ET Pro Beach Hockey. Even the name itself is jarring, and the words don’t sound like they belong together. But for three seasons from 1998 to 2000, Pro Beach Hockey (PBH) was very real, and it was glorious. It has now been 20 years since the innovative inline hockey league last overtook Huntington

9:00 AM ET Considering the way the 2020-21 NHL season has gone — or more accurately hasn’t gone — we have to look at all prospects and young players like we’re grading on a curve. Many of these players have never gone this long between games in their entire playing careers. Some are closing in

7:45 AM ET The 2019-20 NHL season started on Oct. 2, 2019, and didn’t finish until Sept. 28, 2020, thanks to a pause of nearly five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. December is usually when we start to hear significant trade rumblings begin — Taylor Hall was traded on Dec. 16 of last season

9:21 AM ET The NHL and NHL Players’ Association have cleared their financial hurdles and are pushing forward with planning talks for the 2020-21 season. The sides are now aiming for a Jan. 13 start date, with either a 52- or 56-game schedule, sources confirmed to ESPN. The sides have communicated daily since Thursday, and

7:00 AM ET ESPN’s 64-player “Greatest NHL Name” tournament bracket dropped this week and garnered the expected reaction from hockey fans: passion, amusement, obsession and countless people vehemently protesting that Slater Koekkoek should have been a No. 1 seed. To recap, we took some of the greatest names to grace NHL ice — and Ukko-Pekka

8:50 AM ET The Stanley Cup is something that sets the National Hockey League apart from other sports. Not only because it’s the rare championship trophy from which you can drink, but also because the names of those who won it are etched along its rings, forged into hockey history. Oh, the names hockey has

10:47 AM ET The NHL is now aiming for a mid-January start date with a 52 or 56-game schedule, at best, sources confirmed to ESPN. That NHL’s initial target of Jan. 1 became unfeasible, because of necessary time for training camp — plus extra time promised to the seven teams that did not make this