BROSSARD, Que. — The Montreal Canadiens' brass is committed to reversing the team’s trend of missing the playoffs. But general manager Kent Hughes and executive vice-president Jeff Gorton won’t deviate from their long-term plans to do so. "We don't have a lineup to win the Stanley Cup, and everyone here is aware of that," Hughes said Wednesday, as players cleaned out their lockers at Montreal’s practice facility. "And it's Jeff's and my responsibility to do everything we can to change that. But
DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon is so quick and so forceful on the ice that sometimes there’s a crunching noise that follows him into the offensive end. It's a sound that alerts Colorado Avalanche teammate and childhood friend Jonathan Drouin to one thing — a goalie’s in for big trouble. Because there’s no scarier sight than MacKinnon at full speed and crunching up ice. “That’s what’s unique about his skating, it’s so powerful you can hear it,” Drouin explained. “His playmaking is so elite.” Like
Sixteen teams, each one needing to win 16 games over four rounds of best-of-seven series to lift the Stanley Cup, has been the way the NHL decides its champion for nearly four decades. That isn't changing any time soon. The NHL is the only one of the major four North American professional sports leagues not to expand its playoffs in recent years. It is content with the current format and isn't looking to add more teams, a play-in round or anything else amid plenty of discussion about doing so. "
Artemi Panarin was an established offensive player before he signed with the New York Rangers in 2019. He has only boosted his numbers since then and is coming off a career year going into the playoffs. The Russian forward averaged 29 goals and 51 assists in his first four seasons with Chicago and Columbus. Since coming to New York, he's topped 90 points every year except for the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and Colorado’s Nathan MacKi