The Toronto Maple Leafs and pending unrestricted free agent forward Kyle Clifford are mutually interested in a contract extension.“Kyle has really liked it and enjoyed it so far,” Clifford’s agent, Todd Reynolds, told the Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan of his client's time with the Leafs. “It’s something we would be interested in and it’s something that the Leafs are interested in.”Talks about a new deal aren't imminent, as the NHL has plenty to figure out during its coronavirus-induced break that began March 12.Clifford was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings along with goaltender Jack Campbell in exchange for Trevor Moore and a pair of draft picks. Clifford played 16 contests with the Maple Leafs before the season was postponed, registering three points while providing a physical element the team lacked before he arrived.The 29-year-old is in the final season of a five-year pact that pays him $1.6 million annually. Clifford is one of four pending UFAs on the Leafs' books, along with Jason Spezza, Tyson Barrie, and Cody Ceci.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

North Vancouver native Connor Bedard has been granted exceptional status to play in the WHL next season as a 15-year-old, the league announced Tuesday."BC Hockey would like to congratulate Connor on being announced as the first player from Western Canada to be granted exceptional status in the CHL and WHL," said BC hockey chief executive officer Barry Petrachenko. "Throughout the evaluation process, Connor has displayed the tremendous potential he has both mentally and physically to be able to be granted exceptional status."Bedard is the first player to earn exceptional status in the WHL. Six other players in CHL history have been given the unique distinction: Connor McDavid, John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Sean Day, and Shane Wright in the OHL, and Joe Veleno in the QMJHL.Bedard is a forward listed at 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds. He played for West Vancouver Academy’s U18 team in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League (CSSHL) this past season, notching 43 goals and 41 assists in 36 games.The WHL Bantam Draft is set for April 22.The CHL recently shut down all three of its leagues for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs due to coronavirus concerns.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

While the NHL hasn't established a timetable for its eventual return, the league is looking at playing games late into the summer."Earlier (Tuesday), the National Hockey League did request from each of its 31 member clubs to provide available home dates for the month of August," TSN's Bob McKenzie reported on the latest edition of "Insider Trading."If the NHL resumes in July or August, the players' contracts would need to be extended, as their deals expire June 30 with the new league year starting July 1, McKenzie adds. That would also affect players on work visas.After the NHL paused its 2019-20 season amid the COVID-19 outbreak on March 12, the league asked its teams to work with their respective arenas to find potential home dates in July, according to the New York Post's Brett Cyrgalis.On Tuesday, the NHL reportedly asked players and staff to self-quarantine through April 6, extending its initial directive by 10 days.Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said recently that while the possibilities for the rest of the 2019-20 season are "almost endless," the league wants to avoid scenarios that prevent it from holding a full 2020-21 campaign.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The owners of the New Jersey Devils are backtracking after indicating they would temporarily reduce full-time employees' pay amid the coronavirus pandemic."Our commitment has been to do our best to keep all of our employees working through this very difficult situation," Devils co-owner Josh Harris said in a statement Tuesday. "As part of an effort to do that we asked salaried employees to take a temporary 20% pay cut while preserving everyone's full benefits - and keeping our 1,500 hourly workers paid throughout the regular season."After listening to our staff and players, it's clear that was the wrong decision," Harris continued. "We have reversed it and will be paying these employees their full salaries. This is an extraordinary time in our world - unlike any most of us have ever lived through before - and ordinary business decisions are not enough to meet the moment. To our staff and fans, I apologize for getting this wrong."Harris and David Blitzer oversee the NHL club as well as the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. On Monday night, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment CEO Scott O'Neil confirmed a report from the New York Times' Marc Stein stating the owners were asking full-timers working for both organizations to trim their pay and move to a four-day workweek.The salary reductions were reportedly aimed at employees making more than $50,000. The cuts would have been implemented from April 15 through the end of June, according to Stein.Harris issued the same apology through the 76ers on Tuesday.Earlier Tuesday, ESPN's Emily Kapan reported the NHL is temporarily cutting league office employees' salaries by 25% in hopes of avoiding any layoffs.The Devils were the first NHL team to make a public commitment toward compensating hourly workers after the NHL paused its season in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

New Jersey Devils veteran Kyle Palmieri is optimistic about his team's future thanks to a handful of young, dynamic players."I think there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic," Palmieri said, according to NJ Advance Media's Randy Miller. "We have guys that haven’t even arrived in Jersey professionally yet that show a lot of promise."After finding themselves near the bottom of the standings this season, the Devils began to look toward the future. After parting ways with Taylor Hall, Andy Greene, Wayne Simmonds, and Blake Coleman this season, the Devils find themselves with a pool of prospects and draft picks.The list of prospects in the Devils' system with NHL potential is lengthy. It includes defensemen Ty Smith, Kevin Bahl, and Daniil Misyul. It also includes newly acquired winger Nolan Foote, who the Devils pried away from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Coleman trade.Palmieri is also aware of the potential of last year's No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes, who was slotted into the lineup all season long."You look at the little flashes and the skill and the way he thinks and sees the game, and you can definitely see as he matures and gets used to the NHL level that he’s going to just keep getting better and better by the day," Palmieri said.Hughes put together an underwhelming rookie campaign where he mustered up seven goals and 21 points in 61 games. Despite the lack of scoring, the 18-year-old showed immense potential as a future star in the league.Palmieri added: "We're building and we're young, and guys are going to keep getting better year by year."The 29-year-old forward has been a part of the Devils since the 2015-16 season. He's scored at least 24 goals in every campaign in New Jersey and is leading the Devils this season with 25 goals in 65 games. He is set to hit free agency at the end of the 2020-21 season.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.Let's dive into our preseason article pointing out the best bets to make/miss the playoffs.We can't break these down by the good and bad, as all four looked likely to come down to the final week of the season, so we are going pick by pick.The picksWinnipeg Jets: No playoffs (+150)A run of four successive wins just before the season got suspended thrust the Jets back into the playoff mix, though they had the disadvantage of playing one more game than all the teams around them. If the season did end up being played out, I think the Jets would have ended up missing the playoffs.My criticism of the team's depth down the middle turned out to be justified, as was my concern about their thin defensive corps, but was I ever wrong about Connor Hellebuyck. "Hellebuyck took a step back and resembled the goalie he was in 2017 more than he did the Vezina nominee we saw in 2018. Now, In three years as a starter, he's been average twice. Which season sounds like the outlier here?"His 2018 season sure doesn't seem like an outlier now. He's been the best player on this team for stretches this season and without his exploits, the Jets would have already been well out of the playoff picture.Carolina Hurricanes: Yes playoffs (-160)Admittedly this would have turned out to be closer than I originally expected, but the Hurricanes were absolutely making the playoffs. After loading up at the deadline, Carolina was looking likelier to make a deep run than they were to miss out on the postseason altogether. Looking at the standings, the Hurricanes were an overwhelming favorite to claim the top wild-card spot."Carolina has an elite group of young forwards and should be a lock to make the playoffs this year. If sophomore Andrei Svechnikov takes the leap toward becoming the elite scorer he was expected to be when he was drafted, this team could be looking at a division title."Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho both made the jump, but a lack of depth scoring is what held this team back. A lot more was expected out of Ryan Dzingel and Nino Niederreiter. I was also infatuated with the Canes' defensive depth, but injuries to Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce hurt their cause.Calgary Flames: No playoffs (+180)This prediction was probably the most questionable. With 79 points, the Flames were holding down third in the Pacific Division, but the Vancouver Canucks were just a point back with a game in hand. Finishing ahead of the Canucks was their best chance to make the playoffs, because their odds likely weren't great in a muddled wild-card race with the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild each holding games in hand.My main concern surrounded Calgary coming off a season in which almost all its top players set career highs in points. I expected regression, and regression I got. None of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, or Sean Monahan produced anywhere close to their 2018-19 totals and the Flames were in a desperate battle for a playoff spot because of it.New York Rangers: No playoffs (-150)Kudos to the Rangers for making this closer than I expected it to be. They were left for dead a month-and-a-half ago before going scorched earth on the rest of the league to pull into the wild-card race. The odds were still stacked against them, but they certainly weren't out of it.My biggest issue with the Rangers was how all the hype surrounding them following a busy offseason had people overlooking the lack of depth on their roster. Depth scoring has proven to be a big issue for them, but the reason they're still in the mix is because Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad have quite remarkably been able to do it all on their own. At least I look good for saying "Zibanejad is excellent."Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

With most sports on an indefinite hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams and athletes are promoting social distancing. Clubs are temporarily updating their logos to reflect the practice, and athletes are offering fans their advice and emphasizing the importance of taking proper measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Let's take a look at what has been done so far.Carolina HurricanesThe Carolina Hurricanes' alternate logo is a hurricane warning flag, with the shape of North Carolina formed in the space in between the two flags.

The NHL is temporarily cutting the salaries of league office employees by 25% due to the coronavirus pandemic that's put the 2019-20 season on pause, according to ESPN's Emily Kaplan.The league is hoping the move will allow it to avoid layoffs, Kaplan's sources said.The Montreal Canadiens, meanwhile, are proceeding with temporary layoffs. Groupe CH, which owns the Canadiens, announced Tuesday that it will temporarily lay off 60% of the organization's employees effective March 30. Ownership also created a $6-million fund to "enhance" affected workers' employment insurance benefits for eight weeks.The NHL officially suspended play March 12 due to the growing threat of the COVID-19 virus.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Minnesota Wild inked forward Mitchell Chaffee to a two-year, entry-level deal, the team announced Tuesday.Chaffee, 22, tallied 16 goals and 29 points through 30 games for the University of Massachusetts in 2019-20. The 6-foot winger amassed 47 goals and 95 points in 108 outings over three seasons with the program. He was named to the Hockey East All-Academic Team in both 2017 and 2019.The NCAA season was officially canceled on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic.Minnesota signed forward prospects Adam Beckman and Damien Giroux each to three-year, entry-level pacts on Monday.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL season is suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and while the league hopes it will eventually be able to resume and conclude the 2019-20 campaign, that's far from a foregone conclusion. We're breaking down some of the major storylines that hang in the balance.Before hockey was halted, the Colorado Avalanche were enjoying their best season in many years. The Edmonton Oilers, led by Hart Trophy favorite Leon Draisaitl and a certain superstar running mate, looked primed to start delivering on the promise of the Connor McDavid era. Anything can happen in the playoffs, which served as a rallying cry for the nine teams occupying a wild-card spot or within a few points of one.Plenty of squads stand to begrudge what could have been if the regular season must be truncated or the playoffs can't be held at all. But no team's what-if scenario would sting quite like that of the Philadelphia Flyers.Philly is a low-key tortured franchise, overshadowed in its division by the teams that employ Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby and narrowly eclipsed in historical plight by, to pick one glaring example, the Toronto Maple Leafs. At 43 seasons and counting, the Flyers own the NHL's fourth-longest championship drought, and this sure wasn't supposed to be the year that the Stanley Cup returned to the City of Brotherly Love.Travis Konecny. Icon Sportswire / Getty ImagesNon-rebuilding teams that miss the playoffs by 16 points - and are mercurial to the point of rattling off eight-game winning and losing streaks in the same season - don't tend to inspire high expectations when they ice much of the same roster the following season. After stumbling to that fate in 2018-19, Philadelphia's turnaround was among the better storylines of this paused campaign. Conservatively, they were set to enter the playoffs as a sensible dark-horse pick.Hockey Reference's Simple Rating System, a metric that quantifies how good a team is based on its goal differential and strength of schedule, pegs Philadelphia as the NHL's fourth-best club through the suspension of play, behind only the Boston Bruins, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Colorado. The Flyers started to round into truly fearsome form at an optimal time, winning nine straight games from Feb. 18 to March 7 and outscoring opponents 39-17 over that span.The Flyers did make a few notable offseason changes. They hired Alain Vigneault as head coach. They traded for Matt Niskanen and Kevin Hayes (then signed the latter to a seven-year deal). From the start of the season, they entrusted Carter Hart, the league's youngest No. 1 goalie, with the task of stabilizing a perpetually troublesome position. (Seriously, this list isn't too pretty.)Those moves were uniformly positive, and internal growth and resurgence took care of the rest. Travis Konecny, a first-round pick in 2015, is looking like a budding star. Offense came from many sources, from top-six mainstays Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, and Claude Giroux to an Ivan Provorov-led blue-line corps that combined to score 44 goals, one of the NHL's best such marks.Carter Hart (left) and Kevin Hayes. Len Redkoles / NHL / Getty ImagesFortified defensive play was paramount in the Flyers' rise: They're eighth in the league in goals allowed (191) a season after finishing 29th (280). They pace the NHL in home wins (25) and wins by three goals or more (21). All of this occurred without Nolan Patrick, the No. 2 pick in 2017, who's been sidelined since training camp due to a migraine disorder. (Philadelphia was also playing without Oskar Lindblom, the 23-year-old forward who was diagnosed in December with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.)With the Flyers just one point behind Washington for the first seed in the Metropolitan Division, they seemed ready to rectify their generally underwhelming last decade of hockey. A refresher on recent club history: After barely making the playoffs and then surging, rather surprisingly, to the Cup final in 2009-10, Philly's next two teams were much stronger but bowed out in consecutive second rounds. Three postseason trips since have produced no series victories.Rather than head into the playoffs on a tear, these Flyers may be left to wonder if this year's returns are repeatable. Konecny, Couturier, Voracek, Giroux, Hayes, and Provorov are all signed through at least 2022, but their contracts have Philly close to the cap. Meanwhile, Ovechkin and Crosby's enduring stardom and the ascent of the Bruins and Lightning to juggernaut status emphasize how strong the top of the Eastern Conference has become.But again, anything can happen in the playoffs, as those plucky 2010 Flyers, whose Cup dreams were finally dashed by Patrick Kane's great vanishing goal, can attest. When will they get to try to make good on that hopeful adage again?Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's national hockey writer.Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Spotify.Jonathan Willis, staff writer for The Athletic, joins this week's show to discuss a variety of topics, including:

The Carolina Hurricanes are adding a pair of brothers to their system.The team agreed to terms with forwards David and Jason Cotton on entry-level contracts, the Hurricanes announced Tuesday."David and Jason both had very productive senior seasons this year," Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said. "We've been pleased with David's progress over his four years at Boston College, and his brother Jason was recently named a Hobey Baker Award finalist. We're excited to see what they can accomplish at the professional level."David, 22, signed a two-year contract that will pay $700,000 in 2020-21 and $832,500 in 2021-22 at the NHL level. He posted 15 goals and 39 points in his senior year at Boston College while serving as the team's captain. He was originally selected by the Hurricanes in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL Draft.Jason, 25, signed a one-year contract for the 2020-21 season that will pay $700,000 at the NHL level. He was named a Hobey Baker Award finalist after recording 20 goals and 37 points with Sacred Heart University this season. He also served as his team's captain and was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The 2019-20 Canadian Hockey League playoffs and the Memorial Cup have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the CHL announced Monday.The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, and the Ontario Hockey League play under the CHL umbrella. The winner of each league's playoffs and the team from the host city then compete in a four-way tournament for the Memorial Cup. This year's event was scheduled to be held from May 22-31 in Kelowna, British Columbia.The QMJHL season was canceled on March 17. The OHL and WHL both followed suit the next day.The Memorial Cup's cancelation means there won't be a major junior champion for the first time in 102 years, per TSN's Bob McKenzie.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price and his wife, Angela, are donating $50,000 to the Breakfast Club of Canada's emergency fund in an effort to help children at risk of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic."We are lucky to have everything we do when so many people lack access to healthy food," Angela Price said in a statement, according to Sportsnet. "We feel compelled to do our part so that the most vulnerable children and communities in the country, including Indigenous communities, aren't victims of food insecurity during this crisis."The NHL has been shut down since March 12 due to the outbreak.Prior to the postponement, Price owned a 27-25-6 record along with a .909 save percentage.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.Before the NHL season began, we produced a pair of articles outlining what we felt were the best point total bets to make for the upcoming campaign.Let's look back on those - three overvalued teams to fade and four undervalued teams to consider - and see how we did.The goodToronto Maple Leafs under 102.5This one was never in doubt. The Maple Leafs slumped out of the gate under Mike Babcock and a midseason coaching change couldn't spark them. Questions about their depth and defense proved legitimate, as did pointing out that the team hadn't actually improved over the offseason. Barring an 11-0-1 finish, this was an easy under.Washington Capitals over 97.5"It would be shocking to see this team finish below 100 points."The Capitals were at 90 points, meaning they needed just five wins from their remaining 13 games to hit triple-digits. They would have sailed over 100, let alone 97.5. Whoever set this total should give me their address so I can send a gift basket.New Jersey Devils under 90.5Everybody and their mother got on the Devils' bandwagon following a busy offseason, but I never quite could understand the hype. I doubted whether P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds would actually help this team much - they didn't - and cited Taylor Hall's expiring contract and Mackenzie Blackwood's resume in net as legitimate concerns. I wasn't wrong. Hall was shipped out after a miserable start and the Devils were on pace for a meager 80 points.The badAnaheim Ducks over 81.5This one was a bit unlucky. Injuries were a big issue for the Ducks, who used 36 different skaters through 71 games. The logic behind this pick made sense, though, and I stand by it: "(The Ducks were) a complete and utter disaster last season and finished with 80 points. ... They can't possibly be any worse this season." With enough injuries to key guys, it turned out they could be.Chicago Blackhawks over 89.5This was the worst call of them all. I really bought into the Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat duo up front, but it backfired in a colossal way. Neither came close to reaching their 2018-19 numbers. I also raved about adding Olli Maatta and Calvin de Haan to the Blackhawks' defense. Well, Maatta's been average at best and De Haan's been limited to 29 games. It's a blessing this future will be voided.Minnesota Wild under 87.5This one looked great until about a month ago. General manager Bill Guerin called the players out publicly and they answered the bell. The Wild won eight of 11 games before the season was suspended, putting them on pace to surpass this total after it looked like a pipe dream at the start of February.The most frustrating part of this one is that I was right about Devan Dubnyk "turning back into the pumpkin he was in Edmonton"; what I didn't account for was Alex Stalock stepping in and picking up the slack.Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Boston Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask isn't sure about what he wants to do once his contract is up."I have one year left in the contract, so we'll see if I even play," Rask said, according to the Boston Globe's Matt Porter. "We'll see. Always a possibility."Rask has split time with Jaroslav Halak over the last two campaigns. The latter's future with the club is unclear, as he'll turn 35 in May and is set for free agency at season's end. Rask, meanwhile, will play out his eight-year, $56-million contract next year.When asked if he could return to his native Finland, the 33-year-old confirmed playing overseas isn't in his plans."No, no, I wouldn't. ... Family time," Rask said.He added, "Just be home. The wear and tear of the travel with two, almost three kids now, makes you think. I love to do it. But it’s tough.”Rask ranks first among goaltenders with a 2.12 goals-against average and second with a .929 save percentage this season. He's appeared in 41 games while Halak has played 31.The 2014 Vezina Trophy winner has suited up in 536 games since debuting during the 2007-08 season. He's amassed a 291-158-64 record alongside a 2.26 goals-against average and .922 save percentage. He was a part of the Bruins' Stanley Cup-winning team in 2011.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Minnesota Wild inked forward prospects Adam Beckman and Damien Giroux to three-year, entry-level deals, the team announced Monday.Minnesota selected Beckman in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft. The 18-year-old winger led the Western Hockey League in both goals (48) and points (107) in 63 games for the Spokane Chiefs to take home the Bob Clarke Trophy, awarded to the league's top scorer.Giroux, 20, led the Ontario Hockey League's Saginaw Spirit with 44 goals through 61 games this season. The Wild drafted the 5-foot-10 center in the fifth round in 2018.The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season was canceled March 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The OHL and WHL followed suit the next day. The three leagues, all under the Canadian Hockey League umbrella, hope to complete the playoffs once it's deemed safe to play.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL season is suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and while the league hopes it will eventually be able to resume and conclude the 2019-20 campaign, that's far from a foregone conclusion. This week and next, we're breaking down some of the major storylines that hang in the balance.With hockey in limbo, spare a quick thought for David Pastrnak and Auston Matthews, young dynamos and Atlantic Division foes who stood a realistic chance to accomplish what, judging by the NHL's entire post-lockout history, is usually unthinkable. Either could have pried the Rocket Richard Trophy away from Alex Ovechkin.Matthews had scored 47 goals when the season stalled, already a significant career high for the 22-year-old Maple Leafs sniper. Pastrnak, a year older and a goal ahead in the race, was tied atop the league leaderboard with Ovechkin, who, it should be emphasized, wins this award with something resembling death-and-taxes certainty. He has topped the NHL in goals in six of the past seven seasons, and eight times in all.The Capitals captain is inexorable, which is why Pastrnak and Matthews might bemoan this possibly lost opportunity to break his stranglehold - and why, if the rest of the regular season has to be nixed as part of the effort to repress the coronavirus in North America, fans might still nurse hope that Ovechkin has another such virtuosic year or three left in him.It's inexact to characterize Ovechkin's age-34 season as a throwback performance, since he approximates this level of output almost every year. The 68 games he got in before the lull took hold were special. 2019-20 gave rise to the hottest scoring stretch of his career. Marvel at what Ovechkin did over seven consecutives games from Jan. 13 to Feb. 4, broken up by All-Star Weekend and the one-game suspension with which he was tagged for sitting out that extravaganza.Date Opponent G A PTS ShotsJan. 13vs. CAR2024Jan. 16vs. NJ3035Jan. 18@ NYI3033Jan. 29vs. NSH1125Jan. 31@ OTT20211Feb. 2vs. PIT0004Feb. 4vs. LA3035That's three hat tricks and 14 goals in all, which helped him close in on 700 for his career. Ovechkin reached that milestone in New Jersey on Feb. 22; he pinged a slap shot from the right circle off the far post and in, clearing the Washington bench and eliciting the rare standing ovation a player ever gets to bask in on the road.When the season paused with 13 Capitals games remaining, Ovechkin's career goals tally was 706 - eighth in the all-time rankings. That's two goals fewer than Mike Gartner, 11 behind Phil Esposito, 95 back of Gordie Howe, and 188 away from Wayne Gretzky's famous benchmark of 894.Here, we arrive at the rub. If expediency motivates the NHL to skip straight to the playoffs weeks or months from now, or if play is only able to resume in time for 2020-21, the hockey world won't get to watch Ovechkin's presumptive heirs strive to outscore him over the season's final stretch. Those circumstances would also complicate Ovechkin's pursuit of Gretzky's record.Because small samples engender haphazard results, there's no way to be sure how Ovechkin would have produced over his club's last 13 games. Maybe he slumps as the likes of the Blues, Penguins, and Oilers limit him to a measly few goals. Maybe he feasts against the Senators, Sabres, and Red Wings (twice) and surges close to 60 goals for the season. The point is this: when a mark unattainable to everyone else who's ever laced up skates is up for grabs - and when brilliance is within the record-seeker's reach on any given night - every available shift has the potential to matter.At the risk of reducing something joyous to an elementary math lesson, we can consider Ovechkin's scoring rate over the years to get a sense of the pace he'll have to maintain from here to catch Gretzky. To wit: he has averaged 0.70 goals per game this season, 0.64 per game over the past three seasons, and 0.61 per game for his career. At those rates, he'd require 269, 294, and 308 games, respectively, to bag 188 more goals.Ovechkin celebrates his 700th career goal. Bruce Bennett / Getty ImagesAcross all examples, that's somewhere between three and four full 82-game seasons, a ballpark range that sets parameters for the defining challenge of Ovechkin's twilight years. Can he stay healthy and light lamps with familiar frequency into his late 30s? Can he hang around long enough to nip Gretzky at the line?Another hypothetical: Ovechkin retires with, say, 890 goals, just far back enough of Gretzky to argue and lament that all the time he was denied over the years - the full 2004-05 and partial 2012-13 lockouts; these 13 games at the crest of his powers - constituted causation. To the extent that sports are meaningful in the context of a pandemic, that would be a big shame. Maybe that prospect simply isn't worth sweating, though, so long as he comes back strong once hockey returns.A couple of months ago, in an interview for a story about Ovechkin's ascent to 700 goals, Capitals TV color analyst Craig Laughlin said he thought some people were overly fixated on what he called "the next but" - whether Ovechkin will eventually surpass Gretzky - at the risk of failing to properly appreciate what he was in the process of doing. Ovechkin was sitting on 692 goals that day, but Laughlin's thinking seems just as resonant at a time when he's unable to play."Scoring 700 is something really, really, really special," Laughlin said. "Yeah, we should talk about Gretzky's number, and that he's 202 away. But let's take in this moment. Let's take in goal No. 700, because every single milestone along the way for Ovi has been remarkable in its own right."Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL season is suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and while the league hopes it will eventually be able to resume and conclude the 2019-20 campaign, that's far from a foregone conclusion. This week and next, we're breaking down some of the major storylines that hang in the balance.Andrei Vasilevskiy entered the 2019-20 season hiding from nothing and no one. Fresh off a five-month summer, he had begrudgingly come to terms with the fact that his club, the 62-win Tampa Bay Lightning, had lost four straight games to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs."I think we just got too comfortable in the regular season," Vasilevskiy said in September at the NHL's annual player media tour in Chicago."In our heads, it was like, 'Oh, we'll be alright in the playoffs because we're doing great in the regular season,'" he continued. "But the reality is that in the playoffs it's way different hockey. We just weren't ready for that."Scott Audette / Getty ImagesThose words, and the words from his teammates and head coach Jon Cooper at training camp later that month, set the tone for the year. Tampa had found out the hard way that one bad week in April can completely undo 82 games of outright dominance. But the Lightning weren't about to make any excuses. Redemption, they said, would come only in the form of playoff success.Yet here we are, two-and-a-half weeks out from the traditional start of the NHL postseason, and the entire sporting calendar is frozen. As you know, a significantly more important matter - stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus - has consumed the globe, rightly pausing all competition-based narratives, including Tampa's quest for redemption, for the foreseeable future.It all leaves two questions flailing in the wind. Exactly how well was the 2019-20 squad playing before action halted? Did management do enough to prepare for spring's "way different hockey"?On the surface, this season's team couldn't hold a candle to last year's juggernaut. On pace for 50 wins, 12 shy of 2018-19's outrageous benchmark, the 2019-20 Bolts were probably going to finish second in the Atlantic Division rather than first in the league. Their offensive output had dipped from 3.89 goals per game to 3.47, while their defensive work had led to more goals against (2.77 per game up from 2.69). Even their special teams had sunk, with the power play ranking fifth and the penalty kill 14th after both led the NHL last year.Scott Audette / Getty ImagesBut the numbers lurking below the surface paint a rosier picture. Before the pause, the 2019-20 squad was rocking even-strength differentials nearly identical to those of last year's team across five key categories: shot attempts, shots on goal, scoring chances, goals scored, and expected goals.SEASONATTEMPTSSHOTSCHANCESGOALSXGOALS2018-1951.2%50.8%51.7%56.7%53.3%2019-2052.0%50.2%53.8%56.8%53.5%Source: Natural Stat TrickTeam goaltending had improved as well, with Vasilevskiy and Curtis McElhinney uniting for an impressive .918 even-strength save percentage - a notable upgrade over 2018-19's mark of .904. McElhinney, one of the league's best No. 2s, was a smart offseason pickup by GM Julien BriseBois. Former backup Louis Domingue filled in admirably for an injured Vasilevskiy last year, but McElhinney's willingness to sign a two-year deal on the cheap pushed Domingue down the depth chart and eventually out of the organization.Tampa made only one major roster move over the summer, trading forward J.T. Miller to the Canucks for salary-cap relief. Given the club's underwhelming postseason, it would have been mighty tempting to steer the ship in an entirely new direction. Fire Cooper? Unload a star or two? But BriseBois instead opted to tinker around the margins. He brought in Pat Maroon, a bruising winger who had just won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis, to help fill Miller's skates, while veteran defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk took unrestricted free agent Anton Stralman's spot on the blue line.From there, BriseBois used draft and prospect capital to acquire two pieces ahead of February's trade deadline: Blake Coleman, a speedy two-way goal-scorer, and Barclay Goodrow, a tenacious pest of a penalty killer. They appeared in a combined 17 games for Tampa. That's obviously suboptimal. Both wingers, however, are signed to team-friendly deals through the 2020-21 season, so the assets shipped out to acquire their services and a third-round pick - two first-rounders, high-end forward prospect Nolan Foote, and 26-year-old AHL forward Anthony Greco - weren't sacrificed for nothing. BriseBois, it turns out, played his cards right by reeling in guys with term.Icon Sportswire / Getty ImagesThough Miller exploded in Vancouver, recording 72 points in 69 games prior to the pause, it's hard to make the case that last year's Lightning roster was more talented, more balanced, or better equipped for the rigors of playoff hockey. This season's third and fourth lines are spunkier, the backup is steadier, and the defense corps is improved, if only slightly. The team's veteran leaders - Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, and Vasilevskiy - remain in fine form, while the stocks of 24-and-under studs Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, and Mikhail Sergachev continue to rise.All of this is to say that even though the win total might not show it, this latest iteration of the Lightning could definitely hang with last year's powerhouse. They hit rough patches in 2019-20, starting the season a middling 17-13-4 and then winning only three of their final 10 games, but in between and under the surface, they were brilliant. You certainly can't claim they "got too comfortable" during the truncated campaign. The adversity they first encountered in the Columbus series hit them early and often.If the NHL resumes play and manages to string together a postseason of some kind, the Lightning should be healthier; Stamkos, for one, is sidelined until at least late April. They shouldn't have a target on their backs this time around, either - that's reserved for the 100-point Bruins and defending champion Blues. Most notably, they're built to last. The margin of error is thinner in the playoffs - fewer goals, fewer power-play opportunities, more physicality - and that might suit this recalibrated Tampa team perfectly.John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL season is suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and while the league hopes it will eventually be able to resume and conclude the 2019-20 campaign, that's far from a foregone conclusion. This week and next, we're breaking down some of the major storylines that hang in the balance.We're a week into the NHL's pause to combat the coronavirus. So far we've bypassed 54 games in the 2019-20 schedule. Of those 54, few would have commanded our attention quite like the Colorado Avalanche-Vancouver Canucks meeting in Denver, slated for March 13, a day after the hiatus kicked in.Colorado, led by MVP candidate Nathan MacKinnon, sat two points out of first in the Central Division. Vancouver, led by the ever-entertaining Elias Pettersson, was about to engage in a fight for one of three playoff spots in the Pacific or one of two wild cards. The heat was on. Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that both teams employ a fantastic young defenseman; one of them, Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes, was likely to capture the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.The Calder's been awarded 87 times. Only 11 defensemen have won it and on only two occasions (1962-63 and 1966-67) have defensemen finished first and second in voting.Icon Sportswire / Getty ImagesThough sports award debates are low on society's priority list right now, Makar versus Hughes stands as one of the biggest what-ifs of the paused season in part because their Calder cases were remarkably similar.The stretch drive may have moved the needle in one direction, or, in an unlikely scenario, towards Chicago Blackhawks sniper Dominik Kubalik. Who knows. Instead, we have 68 games of Hughes, 20, the two-way wizard with ice in his veins, and 57 games of Makar, 21, the offensive dynamo who's an equally cool customer. Both displayed composure well beyond their years in 2019-20, as well as enough skill to earn semi-permanent spots on the highlight reel.Hughes recorded 53 points, Makar 50. When you adjust for games played, though, there's little separating the two in a few high-level categories:PLAYERTOI/GPPOINTS/GPSHOT ATTEMPTS %EXPECTED GOALS %Makar21:010.8852.850.9Hughes21:530.7853.348.0Source: Natural Stat TrickSo, Hughes played 52 extra seconds a night; Makar was a more efficient point producer; Hughes had the slightly better even-strength shot differential; and Makar had the superior even-strength expected goals differential. In terms of zone starts, Hughes started more of his shifts in the offensive zone, but not by a wide margin (65.8% versus Makar's 63.8%). Back and forth. Up and down. No jarring differences between the two profiles.There was also no major gap in teammate talent. Sure, the Avalanche are a Stanley Cup contender offering a strong support system, and the Canucks aren't there yet. But the three most common forwards to play with Makar (MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen) aren't head and shoulders above Hughes' trio (J.T. Miller, Pettersson, and Bo Horvat). Meanwhile, the blue-liners were, on aggregate, paired with comparable partners:PLAYERPARTNER 1PARTNER 2PARTNER 3MakarGraves (501 mins)Girard (170 mins)Zadorov (143 mins)HughesTanev (724 mins)Myers (348 mins)Stecher (64 mins)Source: Natural Stat Trick(If you really want a winner, Makar held the slight advantage in the teammate department thanks to MacKinnon and Girard. But, again, a very small win.)If you peel the advanced-stat discussion back further, it gets even murkier.Based on Natural Stat Trick's Corsi For Relative percentage metric, the Canucks tipped the shot-attempt counter in their favor far more often when Hughes was on the ice than when he was on the bench. Hughes graded out with an impressive plus-7.4% rating, which ranked him third among all Vancouver players. Makar had a plus-2.9% rating, suggesting Hughes had a more significant effect on his team's ability to attack and defend than Makar.As for special-teams deployment, both rookies averaged almost four minutes per game on the power play and didn't kill penalties. Hughes put up six more points on the PP (25 to 19), but that comparison is a bit misleading because of the aforementioned 11-game gap. Plus, Makar ended up with more even-strength points (31-28), which are generally harder earned.Icon Sportswire / Getty ImagesAll things considered - including the eye test - the Calder race is airtight. Based on his all-around ability, Hughes probably has the tiniest edge on Makar, though award voting (and the debate process as a whole) is a completely subjective exercise. A vote for Makar is wholly justifiable.Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the combined 125 games of Hughes and Makar (135 if you count Makar's marvellous 10-game debut in the 2018-19 playoffs) is that we've seen more than enough to label these kids special.Fellow rookies like Kubalik, Victor Olofsson, Ilya Samsonov, Mackenzie Blackwood, Elvis Merzlikins, John Marino, Adam Fox, Ethan Bear, Nick Suzuki, and Martin Necas - to name 10 - all announced their arrival on the NHL scene. Hughes and Makar broke down the door and sprinted through it.John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

With the NHL season on pause, it's only natural to be going through withdrawal.But while the lack of games is an unfortunate - albeit necessary - development, there are plenty of ways to fill the void.Books certainly fall into that category, so here's a list of entertaining and informative hockey reads as compiled by theScore's hockey editors:'Game Change'Bill Smith / National Hockey League / GettyAuthored by legendary Montreal Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden, "Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey" masterfully mixes the macro- and micro-narratives of a complicated issue into a thought-provoking read about head injuries in hockey.Dryden - who takes NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to task throughout the 357-page book - drills down on the ins and outs of the neurodegenerative disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) while simultaneously telling the story of Montador, a former NHL defenseman who died in 2015 at the age of 35.You will learn so much from reading "Game Change" because it's a tribute to Montador as well as a lecture to powerful people in the sport about the dangers of on-ice violence.'Playing with Fire'B Bennett / Bruce Bennett / Getty"Playing with Fire" is the gripping autobiography of Theo Fleury's life. Fleury - who co-wrote the book with Kirstie McLellan Day - dealt with a rough upbringing, as his father was an alcoholic and his mother was a drug addict.In the book, he discusses being sexually assaulted by his junior hockey coach and how it triggered his own alcohol and drug addiction. Despite plenty of obstacles, including his small stature, Fleury carved out a borderline Hall of Fame career, winning the Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal while collecting 1,088 points in 1,084 NHL games. You won't be able to put this book down.'Behind the Bench'Eliot J. Schechter / National Hockey League / GettyCraig Custance takes a unique, well-thought-out idea and executes it perfectly in this brief but insightful read. In "Behind the Bench: Inside the Minds of Hockey's Greatest Coaches," he sits down with several big-name NHL bench bosses - including Mike Babcock, Joel Quenneville, Mike Sullivan, and Ken Hitchcock - and gets them to dissect the biggest games they've ever coached in great detail.A foreword by Sidney Crosby draws you in right away, and behind-the-scenes looks from the masterminds of some of the most memorable games of a generation create a highly enjoyable reading experience.'Hockey Confidential'Claus Andersen / Getty Images Sport / GettyWe all know Bob McKenzie as one of hockey's best insiders, and in 2014 he gave fans an even deeper look behind the scenes with "Hockey Confidential: Inside Stories from People Inside the Game." McKenzie takes readers through 11 chapters that span all sorts of topics, including the story of John Tavares and his lacrosse-legend uncle who shares his name to explanations of how advanced stats like Corsi and Fenwick came to be.There's also a chapter on Connor McDavid, who hadn't even set foot in the NHL yet. McKenzie goes into detail about McDavid's potential as a future superstar in the league, which is sublime to read now, knowing how the dynamic forward panned out. This is simply an insightful, quick, and easy read for hockey fans.'King of Russia'picture alliance / picture alliance / GettyDave King had a unique perspective as the first Canadian head coach to ever ply his trade in what became the KHL. In "King of Russia: A Year in the Russian Super League," which he co-wrote with Eric Duhatschek, the longtime bench boss tells the engaging story of guiding a Metallurg Magnitogorsk squad featuring budding phenom Evgeni Malkin in the season following the 2004-05 NHL lockout.King's amusing and heartfelt journal entries illuminate the unpredictable nature of both hockey and life in Russia while conveying the culture shock that comes with moving halfway around the world. It's an eye-opening account of a league many have heard about but few in North America have experienced firsthand.It also shows the reader how challenging - but ultimately rewarding - it can be to break out of one's comfort zone by taking on a new adventure.'Stat Shot'Ethan Miller / Getty Images Sport / GettyWith advanced stats becoming an integral tool for evaluating players, "Hockey Abstract Presents ... Stat Shot: The Ultimate Guide to Hockey Analytics" is a great read for those who wish to learn more about this ever-growing pool of data. Rob Vollman puts the daunting task of grasping analytics into layman's terms, making the read both fun and informative.From evaluating the best way to build a team to projecting the significance of a player's numbers in junior to exploring the application of shot-based metrics, Vollman uses this wide world of numbers to provide in-depth answers to a series of important questions. Whether you're new to the game or a seasoned vet, "Stat Shot" is a must-read for all hockey lovers.'Coach: The Pat Burns Story'B Bennett / Bruce Bennett / GettyGoing from a police officer in Quebec to a Stanley Cup-winning head coach isn't exactly the standard career path for most in the NHL, but that was the trail blazed by Pat Burns. In this book - which came out two years after Burns' death - Rosie DiManno traces his rise from a cop to the QMJHL to the AHL and then to the NHL with the Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and New Jersey Devils."Coach" doesn't sugarcoat Burns, showing he had his demons to deal with during a life that was tragically cut short. However, it also paints the picture of a man who was best known for his outwardly combative nature but was truly a teddy bear on the inside.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Calgary Flames' newest blue-line addition brings a quality often overlooked in today's speed-and-skill game.Connor Mackey, a WCHA First Team All-Star at Minnesota State this past season, inked a one-year, entry level contract with the Flames on Friday. Mike Hastings, his head coach in college, spoke highly of the 6-foot-2, 205-pound rearguard's physical play."He has a little bit of a natural nastiness to his game, where he’ll be aggressive, and the physical piece just came as he continued to get stronger,” Hastings told the Calgary Sun's Wes Gilbertson.“You need to have an edge to get guys to think about, ‘Do I really want to come in here? Do I really want to get inside the dots? Do I really want to stay at the net?" Hastings added. "That, I think, is the maturation from his sophomore year - when he could have signed - to this past year."Mackey, 23, tallied seven goals and 24 points in 36 games this past season. He was considered TSN's top undrafted free agent and received interest from 28 of the league's 31 teams, TSN's Frank Seravalli reports.Calgary also added another college free-agent defenseman to the mix in Colton Poolman. He isn't as highly regarded as Mackey, specifically on the offensive side of the puck. However, he's a finalist for the NCHC defensive defenseman of the year. Seravalli notes he possesses "shutdown capability" and "oozes character."“They’re not 18-year-old kids - they’re young men,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving told The Athletic's Scott Cruickshank. “They’re big guys, physically strong guys.”The 24-year-old Poolman tallied 17 points in 31 games last season at North Dakota, where he was the team's captain for two years. He's the younger brother of Winnipeg Jets defenseman Tucker Poolman.Five Flames defensemen - T.J. Brodie, Travis Hamonic, Derek Forbort, Erik Gustafsson, and Michael Stone - are set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

With their sport on an indefinite pause and everyone in self-quarantine or practicing social distancing, NHL players are starting to get creative with their sudden abundance of free time. Here's a look at what some players have shared on social media to date.Sergei BobrovskyThe Florida Panthers netminder kept his glove hand ready while taking in some sun.

The 2020 World Hockey Championship has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced Saturday."This is a harsh reality to face for the international ice hockey family, but one that we must accept," IIHF president Rene Fasel said. "The coronavirus is a global problem and requires major efforts by government bodies to combat its spread. The IIHF must do all it can to support this fight. We have to set sport aside for now and support both the government bodies and the ice hockey family."The event was set to take place in Zurich, Switzerland from May 8-24. The country is now expected to host the 2021 worlds, and other scheduled hosts will be pushed back one year, reports TSN's Darren Dreger.The tournament is usually filled with NHL players whose teams didn't make the playoffs or had already been eliminated from the postseason. A possible NHL return remains in flux, which threw a wrench into the IIHF's plans.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

A second unnamed player on the Ottawa Senators tested positive for COVID-19, the team announced Saturday."The Ottawa Senators' medical team is actively monitoring players and staff and following all appropriate and professional guidelines to help ensure the health and safety of our employees and the greater community," the team said in a statement.The team announced March 18 that an unnamed player had tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus, marking the first known case of COVID-19 among NHL players.The second player was a part of Ottawa's California road trip that included stops in San Jose, Anaheim, and Los Angeles right before the season was suspended. Fifty-two people traveled on that trip with the club, and 44 have shown no symptoms. Eight people were tested, and two have tested positive with some results still pending.NHL teams continue to follow CDC guidelines that state only players and staff members who exhibit symptoms should be tested, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston. Everyone else has been instructed to self-quarantine.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Edmonton Oilers have inked forward Raphael Lavoie to an entry-level contract, the team announced Saturday.Edmonton selected Lavoie, 19, with the 38th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft.Traded by the Halifax Mooseheads to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in January, the 6-foot-4 center racked up 38 goals and 82 points through 55 games between the two QMJHL clubs this season. The QMJHL officially canceled its season on March 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic.Lavoie also represented Canada at the 2020 world juniors, contributing two assists through seven games to help his team capture a gold medal.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The New York Islanders have no intention on letting star forward Mathew Barzal slip away once he hits restricted free agency at the end of the 2019-20 season.General manager Lou Lamoriello confirmed as much in a recent Q&A with Isles fans on the club's website when asked whether he'd match a potential offer sheet for the 22-year-old."It is our intention to not allow it to get to that point, but should that happen, the answer is yes," Lamoriello said.Barzal's entry-level deal is soon to expire, and he's one of the top RFA's on the board this summer. It was offer sheet pandemonium last offseason as an unprecedented amount of young superstars were due big money on their second contracts.Only one offer sheet ultimately came about, as the Montreal Canadiens unsuccessfully tried to poach forward Sebastian Aho from the Carolina Hurricanes.Barzal was drafted 16th overall by the Isles in 2015, and he's led New York in scoring in each of his three full seasons in the NHL. This year, he was on track to do the same before the league went on pause, registering 60 points in 68 games.Defensemen Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews are also RFA's Lamoriello needs to take care of this offseason, but Barzal is the No. 1 priority by a landslide, as he could reasonably become the team's highest-paid player.The Islanders are projected to have just over $12.6 million in space for 2020-21, according to Cap Friendly. However, with the NHL's revenue streams shut down for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus, it's unclear what next season's salary cap will be.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Boston Bruins have put together a plan to pay part-time TD Garden staff if the NHL's coronavirus-induced hiatus results in full game cancellations, the team announced Saturday."The Jacobs family has established a $1.5-million fund for the Boston Bruins and TD Garden part-time gameday associates who will be financially burdened if the six remaining regular-season Bruins games are not played. We thank our associates for their patience and understanding while we worked through the complexity of this unprecedented situation," the team statement reads.The Bruins are the last of 31 NHL teams to announce compensation for their workers. On Thursday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey called out the organization's lack of action."I just want them to act, I just want them to step up and do something," Healey told the Boston Herald's Marisa Ingemi. "Do something for their workers. Every other (NHL) team has said they are going to provide financial support for hourly workers who have been hurt by this, and that runs the range of paying their salaries or paying for their living expenses … I just want them to act now."The NHL announced the suspension of the 2019-20 season on March 13.The Bruins currently sit atop the frozen NHL standings with 100 points through 70 games.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Colorado Avalanche prospect Alex Newhook will return to Boston College for his sophomore season in 2020-21, barring unforeseen circumstances."I think for me, the plan has not changed as of now," Newhook said, according to The Athletic's Ryan S. Clark. Newhook added: "The Avs are a really strong team and they have a lot of depth. I am in a good spot at BC, and to be in a good spot like this and have this position of not being rushed and not being forced out of a good spot makes my situation that much better."Selected by Colorado with the 16th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, the 5-foot-11 forward was enjoying a terrific freshman campaign before the NCAA canceled its season due to the coronavirus pandemic.Newhook shared the team lead for both goals (19) and points (42) through 34 games and was just seven points shy of compiling one of the top five all-time campaigns by a freshman, according to Clark. The 19-year-old was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Year.Boston College ended the season with a 24-8-2 record and ranked No. 5 in the USCHO.com Division I rankings.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Arizona Coyotes have inked forward Nate Sucese to a one-year, entry-level contract.Sucese played four seasons at Penn State, becoming the school's all-time leading scorer last November.The 23-year-old produced 11 goals and 38 points across 34 games in his senior campaign, helping the Nittany Lions win the Big Ten regular-season championship.He produced 61 goals and 140 points in 147 NCAA contests.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Calgary Flames double-dipped into the college free-agent pool, signing defensemen Colton Poolman out of North Dakota and Connor Mackey from Minnesota State, the team announced Friday.Both deals are one-year, entry-level contracts.Poolman, 24, finished his senior year in 2019-20 with 17 points in 31 games.Mackey, 23, registered 24 points in 36 games in his third NCAA season.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey wants the Boston Bruins to pay their hourly and part-time employees affected by the NHL's hiatus."I just want them to act, I just want them to step up and do something," Healey told the Boston Herald's Marisa Ingemi on Thursday. "Do something for their workers. Every other (NHL) team has said they are going to provide financial support for hourly workers who have been hurt by this, and that runs the range of paying their salaries or paying for their living expenses … I just want them to act now."Healey said she's received many calls from hourly workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, some of whom are TD Garden employees.Boston is indeed the only NHL team that hasn't committed as an organization to compensate the relevant workers in the wake of the postponement of the season.Brad Marchand and several of his teammates have donated to a fundraising campaign started by 13-year-old Bruins fan Gunnar Larson. The GoFundMe page has raised more than $36,000.On March 13, the Bruins said they were "actively exploring support options and will have further information in the coming days," but the team hasn't responded to requests regarding the matter since then, according to Ingemi.Jeremy Jacobs - the club's chairman and the owner of food service and hospitality company Delaware North - and his family have an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion, according to Forbes.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly is leaving the door wide open on how things may look if the league's suspended regular season ultimately resumes."I'm really not positioned a week into this to rule out anything," Daly said, according to The Canadian Press. "The possibilities on how this plays out and what we're able to come up with as an end to the 2019-20 season is almost endless."The NHL, NHLPA, and Board of Governors have explored numerous scheduling options since everything came to a halt March 13 due to the global coronavirus pandemic. However, Daly recently said one of the league's top priorities is ensuring the 2020-21 schedule isn't compromised.Daly has worked for the NHL since 1996, a tenure that's featured two labor-related work stoppages, but he admitted the league's current circumstances are unprecedented."I've never seen anything quite like it," Daly said. "There was serious concern about the situation. But I certainly didn't see it unfolding and unraveling as quickly as it did from the point that we ended that meeting to having to pause the season roughly one week later."It was quick."The NHL doesn't have a clear timeline on when things may resume but announced earlier this week that all players must self-quarantine through at least March 27.On Tuesday, an unidentified Ottawa Senator was the first NHL player to test positive for COVID-19.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The New York Rangers signed forward Austin Rueschhoff to a two-year entry-level contract, theScore has learned. The deal starts in 2020-21.Rueschhoff, a 22-year-old right winger out of Western Michigan University, scored 12 goals and added 14 assists in 36 games this past season. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound junior had a plus-9 rating and 24 penalty minutes.An undrafted free agent, Rueschhoff attended an NHL development camp each of the past three summers - the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017, St. Louis Blues in 2018, and Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019.Rueschhoff, a native of Wentzville, Missouri, scored a goal in his final college game, an 8-4 win over the University of Miami (Ohio) on March 7.Five days later, on March 12, the NCAA canceled all remaining winter and spring competition in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.WMU had been scheduled to face off against St. Cloud State University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, during the NCHC quarterfinal round last weekend.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.On Thursday, we looked at the teams that could benefit from the NHL season being suspended by getting their injured players back into the lineup should the season resume this summer.While that could act as a silver lining for some teams, there are a number of others that would find this break detrimental to their Stanley Cup chances.Top teamsSteve Babineau / National Hockey League / GettyThere are a few avenues the league is exploring for a potential revamped playoff format, each of which presents issues that would negatively impact the top teams.An expanded playoff format would increase the likelihood that a lower seed catches fire at the right time and goes on a run. Teams with a second chance can be very dangerous and they wouldn't be playing with the same sort of pressure on them that the top seeds - think the Tampa Bay Lightning (6-1) - would be burdened with.Moving to a best-of-five playoff could create more volatility and leave a lot more room for variance. The better team will usually win out over the course of seven games, but shortening a series by two increases the possibility of a hot goalie stealing a series or a team being snakebit by bad puck luck.Healthy teamsWhile the suspended season could benefit certain teams by allowing them to get their injured players back, as we mentioned Thursday, those clubs' already healthy opponents would, as a result, be negatively impacted, especially two teams in particular.The Washington Capitals (12-1) would be hit the hardest, with their Metropolitan Division foes getting healthy. The Pittsburgh Penguins would welcome back Jake Guentzel, the Philadelphia Flyers could get Nolan Patrick into the lineup and would avoid being without James van Riemsdyk, while the Carolina Hurricanes - the Caps' potential first-round opponent in a standard 16-team playoff - would be gifted a healthy Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, and Sami Vatanen on the back end.The Dallas Stars (18-1) would draw the short straw in the Western Conference. In an already loaded Central Division, they'd have to face the St. Louis Blues with Vladimir Tarasenko, and the Colorado Avalanche with a fully healthy roster for the first time since October.Streaking teamsZak Krill / National Hockey League / GettyThe suspension would offer a blank slate to teams if the season does resume. While the first 70 games would potentially determine playoff seeding, a three-month layoff could be a crippling blow to clubs that were really starting to find their game.The Flyers (9-1) and Vegas Golden Knights (8-1) are two teams that could find this break detrimental. Philadelphia had won nine of 10 games before the season was suspended and looked like a lock to take over the Metropolitan Division's top spot, peaking at the right time.Vegas had won 11 of 13 and were perched comfortably atop the Pacific Division, with the teams below them stumbling. The Knights were finally living up to their billing as clear favorites to come out of the division, but a fresh start negates all the momentum they had built up.Fringe teamsShould the season resume at some point, one of the more prevalent suggestions is for the league to implement a standard 16-team playoff based on current standings, using points percentage as the tiebreaker, given not all teams have played the same amount of games.If the NHL were to employ this logic, any futures ticket on the Columbus Blue Jackets (100-1) or Winnipeg Jets (50-1) would be a losing one. Despite currently sitting in wild-card spots, both teams would find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture based on points percentage. The Blue Jackets would miss out by .009%, and the Jets by .001%. Bless their souls if that winds up being the case.Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Washington Wizards and Capitals will entertain fans with video game simulations while finishing the rest of their regular seasons virtually.Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns the NBA and NHL franchises, will broadcast video game simulations of both team's previously scheduled matchups that have been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. The games will air during every suspended contest's original time slot.Wizards games will be simulated on NBA 2K20, with the first one scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. ET against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Capitals' first simulation will be broadcast at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, when they'll face the St. Louis Blues on NHL 20.Both the basketball and hockey broadcasts will span an hour and be shown on NBC Sports Washington and the Monumental Sports Network. The NHL games will also feature live commentary from Capitals TV announcers on NBC Sports Washington."We know that fans are as disappointed as we are not to be able to watch our favorite teams on a nightly basis," Zach Leonsis, the company's senior vice president of strategic initiatives, said in a statement."We hope that these fun and engaging video game simulations will entertain our fans and help provide a greater sense of normalcy during these challenging times," he continued. "We hope that when people tune in and watch these simulated games, they will be able to enjoy some friendly competitive play from the comforts of their own home."The Phoenix Suns have also been using NBA 2K20 to play out their postponed contests. However, they aren't doing a full simulation, and real players are controlling the team and its opponents.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Seattle's NHL franchise won't get a name in the near future, the organization confirmed Thursday."We will wait to begin general seat selection and we look for the right time to reveal our team name and brand," CEO Tod Leiweke said in a statement. "We recognize the excitement around this, and we appreciate your patience."Leiweke added, "We are deferring payments due in April, May, and June for those who purchased premium seating."The league's 32nd team reportedly hoped to unveil its nickname in Q1, which ends March 31, according to the Sports Business Journal's Mark J. Burns.Seattle will join the league ahead of the 2021-22 season and will play home games at the renovated KeyArena (now called the New Arena at Seattle Center).The NHL put its season on hold March 12 amid the coronavirus outbreak. The spread of the virus has resulted in the cancellations and suspensions of leagues and tournaments across major and amateur sports worldwide.On Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators confirmed that an unnamed player tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, marking the first case in the NHL.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL season is suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and while the league hopes it will eventually be able to resume and conclude the 2019-20 campaign, that's far from a foregone conclusion. This week and next, we're breaking down some of the major storylines that hang in the balance.Believe it or not, this coming Sunday marks one month since the Toronto Maple Leafs failed to score more than two goals on an emergency backup goalie during an embarrassing 6-3 home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. For a hockey world currently consumed by the horrors of a pandemic, the images from that wacky Saturday night seem so distant, as if Sunday is instead the one-year anniversary.Prior to the NHL's decision to press pause on its regular season, that forehead-slapping loss at the hands of David Ayres was arguably the defining moment of the Leafs' puzzling 2019-20 campaign. Now, as we wait for either an abbreviated final stretch or a full cancelation, it's definitely the defining moment for such a turbulent team.Kevin Sousa / Getty ImagesWith all due respect to Ayres - the fill-in goalie who milked his 15 minutes of fame before returning to normal life - that's an unfortunate tag for the Leafs. This squad, as flawed as it is dangerous, had significant moments ahead. Even if you hate them (hello, 30 other fan bases), there's no denying Toronto's highs and lows provided tantalizing theater. With a three-point lead on the Florida Panthers (who had a game in hand) at the 70-game mark, the Leafs were on track to clinch the third Atlantic Division playoff spot and meet the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. It's quite possible the best, or the worst, was still to come.Barring injury, it was a foregone conclusion that Auston Matthews, the club's best forward, would reach the 50-goal plateau for the first time in his career. Thanks to his versatility as a sniper, which included adding a lethal one-timer, he had been fooling goalies with ease, bagging 47 goals in 70 games. That gaudy total put him one behind David Pastrnak and Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead, leaving the door open for a thrilling Rocket Richard Trophy race.Meanwhile, Morgan Rielly, the club's best defenseman, had just returned from two months of injury rehab. Would Rielly's presence down the stretch have helped Toronto clean up its porous defensive play? Would he have given overworked and struggling goalie Frederik Andersen a little relief in the lead-up to the postseason grind?Kevin Sousa / Getty ImagesThe Leafs' season can be sliced neatly into two parts: the end of the Mike Babcock era (9-10-4 record) and the start of the Sheldon Keefe era (27-15-5). If you were to judge them solely on those splits, they are clearly better off with the new guy. However, it's not that simple within the context of the paused season.General manager Kyle Dubas used the words "Jekyll and Hyde" to describe the Leafs late last month, and he wasn't being overly critical. The team was unpredictable from night to night. Toronto flashed its supreme skill and puck possession capabilities in wins, yet was a complete tire fire defensively in losses. The highest highs, like 11 wins in 13 games from Dec. 7 to Jan. 4, were often preceded and followed by inconsistency and indifference.What made this year unique was that it was the first official season of Dubas' great all-in-on-skill experiment. With Babcock out and Keefe in, this was finally Dubas' team. Since last offseason, the young GM has doubled down on skill and an offense-first mentality by surrounding his stars - Matthews, Rielly, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander - with Dubas-style players such as Jason Spezza, Alex Kerfoot, Tyson Barrie, Ilya Mikheyev, and Denis Malgin. The only player recently acquired who fits the bill of "rough and tumble" is Kyle Clifford, with whom Dubas had familiarity through a previous working relationship.Tightening the focus on Dubas' grand plan was the state of the team's blue line. Up until late December, Rielly had been the only everyday defenseman with a contract for next year. Justin Holl, Jake Muzzin, and call-up Rasmus Sandin have since been added to the 2020-21 NHL payroll, but the rest remains in flux because of an impending salary-cap crunch.Kevin Sousa / Getty ImagesIf the season is indeed toast, what happens to Barrie, Cody Ceci, and Travis Dermott? Dermott, a restricted free agent, is almost certainly returning, but the others are likely gone via unrestricted free agency. A chunk of Toronto's fan base will be OK with those subtractions, given the poor seasons from both players, yet their departures would leave the back end in a state of greater disrepair than it is now. Up front, the bottom six, which for the most part was underwhelming in 2019-20, is filled with uncertainty, too. The final dozen games of the season might have answered some questions about the future of Toronto's role players and the direction of the team, in general, heading into the playoffs and/or offseason.Unlike the tidy ending to Ayres' moment in the limelight, though, there is no tidy ending to the story that was being authored by the 2019-20 Leafs. For now, anyway. Unfortunately, a 2-1 win over the Lightning - of all teams - on a random Tuesday in March may turn out to be it. How unsatisfying.John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Vegas Golden Knights enforcer Ryan Reaves was worried when the team hired Pete DeBoer after his creative efforts to get under the head coach's skin during their earlier rivalry.DeBoer, who replaced Gerard Gallant behind the Golden Knights' bench in January, coached the San Jose Sharks throughout the two teams' bitter battle last season. Reaves recalled a tactic he used during one game to irritate DeBoer."Every shift that I went out there and there was a faceoff in the neutral zone near their bench, I would just stare at him and laugh," Reaves told TSN 1050's "OverDrive" on Thursday. "I could see it start driving him crazy."Upon hearing that DeBoer had been hired in Vegas, Reaves admitted he was worried that his behavior could come back to haunt him."That's all I thought about when they said, 'Pete DeBoer is coming,'" Reaves said. "That whole game was just, like, flashing through my head. I was like, 'Oh man, I'm going to go down to the coast (East Coast Hockey League) after this.'"Despite their history, DeBoer fit right into his new job with the Golden Knights, according to Reaves."It was seamless," Reaves said. "He's a great coach, he's a great guy, and it was a pretty easy transition."The Golden Knights compiled a record of 15-5-2 after DeBoer took over and sit atop the Pacific Division with the season suspended.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Vancouver Canucks signed former Minnesota State forward Marc Michaelis to a one-year contract, the team announced Thursday.Michaelis, 24, was the WCHA Offensive Player of the Year in 2019-20, racking up 20 goals and 24 assists in 31 games while captaining the Mavericks to a 31-5-2 record."Marc has exceptional offensive instincts and proven leadership," Canucks general manager Jim Benning said. "We look forward to adding his skill and playmaking ability to the franchise."The 5-foot-10, 185-pound forward has represented his native Germany several times on the international stage, including the 2015 world juniors, and the 2018 and 2019 World Championships.Vancouver also inked forward Will Lockwood, the club's third-round pick in 2016, to a two-year pact.Lockwood recently finished a four-year career at the University of Michigan, captaining the Wolverines to an 18-14-4 record in his senior year. He broke out in his junior year, tallying 16 goals and 15 assists in 36 games. He took a step back in 2019-20, though, recording just 23 points in 33 contests."Will is a hardworking, two-way winger with natural scoring ability," Benning said. "He plays with urgency and creates chances for himself and his teammates. We look forward to adding his speed and tenacity to our roster."Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.Just over a week has passed since the NBA suspended its regular season, effectively launching a sports blackout in response to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. Other leagues quickly followed suit, with the NHL, MLB, and MLS suspending their seasons indefinitely, and none look to be returning anytime soon.Can't wait any longer to bet on those sports? Ironically, you can wager on just how long you'll be waiting for each of those four leagues to return - and you might not like the odds for the over.NBAFirst game played by...YESNOJune 1+325-550July 1+115-155August 1-170+130The NBA was the first league to shut its doors after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus on March 11, and it's been at the front lines of informing fans and bettors just how long this layoff could last.On Thursday, commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN's Rachel Nichols the league would resume "when public health officials give us the OK," which likely means mid-to-late June at the earliest based on the latest reports regarding owners' expectations.Silver sounded optimistic but hesitant about the league's chances of returning this season, even floating the idea of an NBA exhibition game for charity during the hiatus. It seems unlikely players would risk injury for an exhibition if they knew the season was starting soon thereafter, though it's hard to project just how long they'll be waiting before basketball resumes.The longer this season suspension drags on, the more pressure the NBA will be under to shorten the 2020-21 campaign, which would add a whole host of new logistical challenges in addition to a damaged 2019-20 season. That leaves two likely scenarios: A mid-to-late June return (+115) or a canceled season (+130).The best bet, unfortunately, might be the latter.NHLFirst game played by...YESNOJune 1+300-500July 1+110-150August 1-160+120The NHL and NBA calendars share plenty of similarities, but that doesn't mean the schedule for one will mimic the other.On Wednesday, deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly said the league wants to avoid any scenario that cuts into a full 82-game slate next season. That seemingly rules out plans resulting in the postseason extending into late July or early August.Last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs lasted just over two months, and while the league could move ahead with a truncated postseason, that still doesn't bode well for returning later than June and still preserving a full 2020-21 campaign.If the NHL hasn't resumed games by June 1 (+300) - which seems highly unlikely given current CDC recommendations - it might not return until next season (+120).MLBFirst game played by...YESNOJune 1+300-500July 1+145-185August 1-140+100Because MLB had yet to start its season before suspending play, it can get the most creative with scheduling solutions.The league has already delayed Opening Day by at least eight weeks, and it will likely need two-to-four weeks of spring training before starting again, which all but rules out a return by June 1. Talks of abandoning the 2020 draft (June 10-12) and international signing period (July 2) aren't great signs either, though money appears to be the biggest factor there, not safety and public health.The only potential snag tied to reworking the MLB season is the league and players' union not coming to terms on how to handle service time in a shortened campaign, but that seems unlikely to derail an entire season.The best bet on the board is a return in July or later (-185), giving a league eager to play its full season enough time.MLSFirst game played by...YESNOJune 1+275-450While not one of the four "major" sports in the U.S., soccer gets the best chance to return before this summer in the oddsmakers' minds. Perhaps that's out of necessity: MLS is the least equipped of the domestic leagues to weather a lengthy work stoppage without revenue from games.On Thursday, MLS announced it won't return until at least May 10, but that's still a more optimistic date than what's being projected in other leagues. MLS officials have also discussed pushing back the league's championship by a month, which might offer enough wiggle room for an early-summer comeback.If you're going to bet on any of these leagues returning by June 1, take MLS, but it's looking unlikely we see play from any of the four before then. As somber as it feels, it's worth betting "no" at short odds on any or all of these leagues returning no earlier than June 1.At least you'd get a small profit from your sports hiatus.C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Chicago Blackhawks are sticking to their guns.President John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, and head coach Jeremy Colliton will all return next season, Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz told The Athletic's Scott Turner on Thursday.Before the season postponement, Chicago sat last in the Central Division with 72 points in 70 games, ranking 18th in goals for and 21st in goals against.Bowman has been the team's GM since July 2009, overseeing Stanley Cup wins in 2010, 2013, and 2015. He's been applauded for retooling the club after each championship while working within the salary cap, but in recent years Bowman has drawn criticism for some trades, such as dealing Artemi Panarin to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2017.Colliton, meanwhile, replaced Joel Quenneville behind the bench early in the 2018-19 campaign. He owns a career record of 62-58-17 without a playoff appearance. With several highly regarded coaches on the open market - including Bruce Boudreau, Peter Laviolette, Mike Babcock, and Gerard Gallant - the Blackhawks would've been able to choose from intriguing options to replace the 35-year-old.Chicago is in transition. Veteran leaders Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith are still performing well, but youngsters like Dominik Kubalik, Dylan Strome, Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach, and Adam Boqvist fill out the roster. If the young guns can mature quickly while the veterans are still effective, the team could put together something special.The trio of McDonough, Bowman, and Colliton will be entrusted to ensure everything aligns according to plan, at least for another season.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.With the NHL playoffs unlikely to begin before June, the landscape of the league could change significantly as injured players return.Here are the teams that the suspended season could benefit the most, each of which might be worth buying now before odds shorten following the boost to their lineups.Carolina Hurricanes (35-1)Injuries on the blue line forced Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell to be aggressive prior to the trade deadline, acquiring Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen to shore up the back end. The latter has been sidelined since the start of February due to a lower-body injury and hasn't made his Canes debut, but the layoff gives him lots of time to get healthy.Potentially getting back defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce is more significant for Carolina. Both were expected to miss the remainder of the season with leg and shoulder injuries, respectively, but it's possible they'll return at full health should the playoffs not commence until June. That would give the Canes arguably the NHL's best top-six defensive options with Hamilton, Pesce, Vatanen, Skjei, Jaccob Slavin, Jake Gardiner, and Haydn Fleury.Colorado Avalanche (7-1)Long-term injuries weren't necessarily a concern for the Avalanche, but the team hasn't been healthy all season. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen were out before the season was suspended, and both can now fully recover. The same luxury will be afforded to Nazem Kadri and Matt Calvert, who were each week-to-week.The biggest upgrade though will come in goal, where Colorado had been without Philipp Grubauer since Feb. 15. The team remained hopeful he would be back before the end of the regular season, and the suspension removes any doubt.Columbus Blue Jackets (100-1)Kirk Irwin / Getty Images Sport / GettyThe Blue Jackets would be a dangerous low seed if they're included in the playoffs when the season returns.They were a shoo-in for the postseason to begin February before ankle injuries sidelined both Seth Jones and Oliver Bjorkstrand for 8-10 weeks. Jones leads this team on and off the ice, while Bjorkstrand notched a club-high 21 goals this season despite appearing in just 49 of the Blue Jackets' 70 games. Getting both back would be a massive boost for Columbus, which is 3-6-6 since Jones suffered his injury.Philadelphia Flyers (9-1)James van Riemsdyk broke his hand and faced a four-to-six week absence days before the season was suspended, which would have likely kept him out for the start of the playoffs.The suspension also opens the door for Nolan Patrick to come back after missing all of the campaign so far with migraines. Patrick, the Flyers' second overall pick in 2017, had resumed skating and was hopeful of a late-season return.Pittsburgh Penguins (14-1)Charles LeClaire / USA Today Sports The Penguins dropped eight of their last 11 games before the season was suspended, but they might be the biggest beneficiaries if the playoffs don't begin until June.Jake Guentzel underwent shoulder surgery after suffering a gruesome injury on Dec. 30, and he was given a late-May return date, making a comeback possible if the Penguins made the Stanley Cup Final. Now he'll likely be available for the duration of the playoffs.Coming off a 40-goal season and on pace for another in 2019-20 before getting hurt, Guentzel has registered 43 points in 41 career playoff games. The Penguins acquired Jason Zucker to replace him, but getting both into the lineup would be an incredible jolt for Pittsburgh and a concern for the rest of the Metropolitan Division.St. Louis Blues (9-1)The defending champions have been making due without Vladimir Tarasenko, who's been sidelined since Oct. 24 with a shoulder injury. General manager Doug Armstrong announced recently that Tarasenko could return in late April, but the three-time All-Star will now be fully ready when the playoffs start.Tarasenko scored 11 goals over 26 playoff games while helping the Blues win the Stanley Cup last season.Tampa Bay Lightning (6-1)Steven Stamkos suffered a core injury on Feb. 25 that was expected to sideline him for six-to-eight weeks, putting the star forward on track to probably return during the first round of the playoffs. Getting him back earlier is a relief for the Lightning, who are likely feeling the pressure after being swept in the first round last season.Victor Hedman had also been battling a lingering lower-body injury, but the suspension gives him the opportunity to get healthy before what Tampa is hoping will be a deep playoff run.Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Tie Domi didn't mince words while bashing Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens' reputation as one of the toughest players in history.The former Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer ripped Stevens on the latest episode of the "Cam and Strick Podcast," claiming that the 6-foot-2 blue-liner was unwilling to back up his physical play."Scott Stevens was the biggest phony I ever played against," Domi said. "Honestly I chased that guy for years. He was such a phony, it was a joke."Stevens, who was known for his thunderous open-ice hits, apparently refused to answer the bell despite going after Domi's most talented teammates."That guy used to target all the best players on my teams and I always tried to fight him and he would never fight," Domi said. "He never stuck up for anything that, you know, is what a hockey player stands for."Domi continued his rant by telling a story from his time with the New York Rangers."We had a bench-clearing brawl with the (New Jersey) Devils one time and (Stevens) bear-hugged me so hard it was unbelievable. ... Him and I ended up on the bench, he was bear-hugging so hard I said, 'Let go, I'm going to beat the shit out of you,' and he wouldn't let go, he was holding on so tight," Domi said with a chuckle.Domi is the NHL's all-time leader in fights with 333 and ranks third in career penalty minutes (3,515). Stevens sits 14th (2,785) in the latter department.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan doesn't take the fact that Sidney Crosby is on his team for granted."It's quite an honor, I'd have to say," Sullivan told SN590's "Hockey Central" on Wednesday. "He's a privilege to coach. … It makes my job easy when our best player and the best player of his generation is the hardest-working guy and the most driven guy on the ice, and off the ice, for that matter."Sullivan added, "He for me epitomizes an athlete that controls everything within his power to be his very best. And when you have a guy like that on your team and he's your captain and the best player in the game, it certainly makes the coach's job a whole lot easier."Sullivan joined the Penguins as head coach in December 2015 and went on to win the Stanley Cup the same season. He then led the Penguins to a second consecutive Cup victory.Crosby took home the Conn Smythe Trophy both years, recording a total of 14 goals and 46 points across both playoff runs.When asked whether he believes Crosby will become a coach, Sullivan said yes."If he wanted to be a coach, I think he would be a terrific coach because he is such a student of the game," Sullivan said. "That's something that I think would be a personal decision from his standpoint, but if he does choose to go down that path, I think he would be terrific at it."It wouldn't surprise me one bit when Sid's done playing the game somewhere down the line, but I don't see that happening anytime soon because he loves the game as much as he does."Crosby, who turns 33 this summer, has had one of the league's most illustrious careers to date. He owns two Hart, Art Ross, and Rocket Richard Trophies, and has been awarded the Stanley Cup three times. He's racked up 462 goals and 1,263 points in 984 career regular-season games.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

One day after the QMJHL scrapped the remainder of its regular-season schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Canadian Hockey League's other two member leagues have done the same.The remaining 54 games on the 2019-20 Western Hockey League regular-season schedule won't be played, the league announced Wednesday."The WHL takes the safety of our players, officials, staff, fans, and everyone associated with the WHL very seriously," commissioner Ron Robison said in a statement, adding the league will "make every effort possible" to hold the 2019-20 playoffs at a later date.Not long after that announcement, the OHL followed suit, canceling its final 56 regular-season contests. OHL commissioner David Branch said the league will provide an update on the 2019-20 playoffs "when it is safe and we may resume play."The CHL - under which all three regional leagues play - initially postponed its campaigns last week along with the NHL and AHL.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced Tuesday that the remainder of the 2019-20 regular season is canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.The Western Hockey League followed suit one day later. The Ontario Hockey League's governors, meanwhile, have a conference call Wednesday to determine its fate, reports TSN's Bob McKenzie.There has been no decision on the Canadian Hockey League playoffs yet, but they appear to be a "long shot" to proceed, according to McKenzie.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Boston Bruins will sign undrafted college free-agent defenseman Nick Wolff out of Minnesota-Duluth, reports Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald.The contract will pay Wolff $700,000 with an additional $92,500 signing bonus, according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports.Wolff, a left-handed shot, is listed at 6-foot-5, 229 pounds. The 23-year-old recorded 10 assists in 33 games this season and won two national championships during his tenure with the Bulldogs.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

While there remains plenty of potential scheduling options for the NHL's eventual return, Bill Daly said the league doesn't wish to go down any road that would cut into an 82-game schedule next season."The only definite for us is we certainly don't want to do anything around a resumption of play this season that will impact our ability to have a full season next year," the deputy commissioner told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside on the "Two-Man Advantage" podcast Wednesday.Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the NHL hasn't yet determined a timeline for resuming play. Earlier this week, the league told players they can fly home but must self-quarantine through March 27. That came one day after the CDC advised against gatherings of 50-plus people for the next eight weeks.The league paused its 2019-20 campaign last Thursday amid the coronavirus outbreak. The stoppage came after the NBA did the same one night prior in the wake of Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert testing positive.On Tuesday night, the Ottawa Senators confirmed one of their players has also been diagnosed with COVID-19.Daly told LeBrun and Burnside he's not aware of any other positive tests and noted that while the Senators case is the first involving an NHL player, they are handling it just as they would had it been anyone else."The fact that it’s a player as opposed to a club staff member or a front office staff person really doesn’t change the approach in terms of how you have to deal with it," Daly said.The relative of a Buffalo Sabres employee who attended a recent game tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, the club confirmed Tuesday. On Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks said a member of their full-time office staff tested positive, as did a part-time employee at San Jose's SAP Center, as the Sharks revealed last Thursday.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.While rules differ depending on the sportsbook, the majority of NHL futures wagers have been voided due to the suspension of the season, leaving a number of bettors lamenting what were once destined to be winning tickets.If you had placed any of these bets before the start of the season, you have our deepest sympathies.Boston Bruins over 100.5We begin with the worst of them all. With 12 games left to play, the Bruins were sitting at 100 points. One more point before the suspension of the season and a number of books would have already cashed the ticket. Talk about horrible timing - this one really hurts.Detroit Red Wings under 76.5The Red Wings had just 39 points through 71 games. If you had an under ticket, chances are you'd already cashed it in your head by December. Let's just hope you didn't spend the money yet.Edmonton Oilers over 85.5Those who were high on the Oilers this season were set to be rewarded with the team sitting at 83 points with 11 games remaining. Even a disastrous finish to the season likely wouldn't have been enough to stop this over bet from cashing.Montreal Canadiens under 89.5Injuries and an inability to win close games derailed the Canadiens' season. Montreal needed to finish the campaign 9-1-1 to hit this total. Over backers, your blushes have been spared.New Jersey Devils under 90.5The Devils were the latest in a long list of teams to win the offseason and crumble when the games actually started. None of their summer moves panned out, as they had just 68 points with 13 games remaining and needed to finish 11-1-1 to surpass their point total.Philadelphia Flyers over 90.5Imagine the euphoria over backers experienced during the Flyers' nine-game win streak, only for the season to be suspended days later. They needed two more points with 13 games left to play.San Jose Sharks under 94.5Even a 12-0-0 finish to the season wouldn't have been enough for the Sharks to hit this total. It was a disastrous campaign in San Jose. The suspension came in handy for people who had futures on the Sharks to win the Stanley Cup (like me).St. Louis Blues over 96.5The Blues picked up where they left off after winning the Stanley Cup last season. With 94 points through 71 games, they were going to comfortably surpass this total.Toronto Maple Leafs under 102.5If you took my advice before the season, chances are you had some money on the Leafs finishing below 102.5 points this year. Toronto needed to finish 11-1-0 to hit this mark. The toughest part for us under bettors is accepting the fact we're no richer than those who backed the over.Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.