NHL

ST. LOUIS — Wayne Gretzky called women’s hockey players involvement in the NHL All-Star Game “a big step forward” in growing the sport — and he hopes the league will continue to stay committed to the women’s game. “Exposure is everything,” Gretzky told ESPN on Friday, ahead of the inaugural 3-on-3 women’s exhibition at NHL

ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A former Minnesota high school hockey player paralyzed during a game in 2011 has been hired by an NHL team. Jack Jablonski tweeted Thursday that he has a job as a content coordinator with the Los Angeles Kings working in podcasting, radio and TV. I had always dreamed of signing

ST. LOUIS — Even when he skips the event, Alex Ovechkin is the talk of the NHL All-Star Game. Ovechkin closed out the first half of the season with back-to-back hat tricks and eight goals in three games. He sits at 692 career goals, putting him just eight away from becoming the eighth player in

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sharks owner Hasso Plattner gave general manager Doug Wilson a vote of confidence Thursday with his team mired in 13th place in the Western Conference. Plattner said the entire organization is disappointed in the performance so far but he believes Wilson can lead the team back to contention. “Doug has a

I don’t want to say there’s a slight power imbalance in the NHL this season, but it might be time to contract the entire Western Conference for its abject inferiority. OK, that’s not entirely fair. Let’s relocate the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche to the superior conference, and then contract the rest. We can

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (wrist) won’t play in this weekend’s NHL All-Star Game, but he will attend the event in St. Louis, the team announced Wednesday. Matthews, 22, is day-to-day while he gets treatment for an ongoing wrist issue, Toronto said. 2 Related Matthews is tied for second in the NHL this season,

Police in Philadelphia are investigating a complaint that Gritty, the Flyers‘ mascot, punched a 13-year-old following a photo shoot at a November event for season-ticket holders, a police spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Chris Greenwell told the Inquirer that his son, Brandon, playfully patted Gritty on the head after the photo was taken and walked

Joel Quenneville is used to winning games at United Center. When you coach the Chicago Blackhawks for 11 seasons, it comes with the territory. Tuesday night was more of the same for him … just on the opposing bench. Frank Vatrano had three goals, Mike Hoffman had two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves

New York forward Artemi Panarin, the Rangers’ leading scorer and potentially the biggest offseason addition of any team in the NHL, missed Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders because of an upper-body injury. Panarin, signed by the Rangers in July after he led the Columbus Blue Jackets to the playoffs, has 26 goals

Former NHL forward Akim Aliu has signed in the Czech Extraliga for the remainder of the season, a source told the Associated Press on Tuesday. Aliu joins the Czech league team with 14 games left in the season; playing for HC Litvinov gives him a chance to display his game to any NHL teams interested

ESPN has done player polls in the past — here’s a recent edition, in which we asked players about dreaded road trips, worst dressing rooms and Gritty — but we’ve never done them in Russia. While covering the 2020 Kontinental Hockey League All-Star Game in Moscow — plenty more content coming soon! — we polled

New York Rangers coach David Quinn called Sunday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets perhaps their biggest of the season, as his team trailed the Blue Jackets by eight points for one of the Eastern Conference’s two wild-card playoff spots. After Oliver Bjorkstrand‘s tiebreaking goal with 26.5 seconds left in regulation, that gap is now

Chicago forward Patrick Kane became the 90th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points with an assist Sunday in the Blackhawks’ 5-2 home victory over the Winnipeg Jets at United Center. Kane fed Ryan Carpenter from behind the net on a pass that eventually ended up on Brandon Saad‘s stick. Saad deposited it past

SAN JOSE — Pierre-Luc Dubois is the leading scorer for the Columbus Blue Jackets, a 21-year-old forward whose production has increased each season. He is approaching restricted free agency this summer and what should be a lucrative second NHL contract. He’s also someone who really likes images of Baby Yoda in streetwear. More on that

As has seemingly become tradition during the 2019-20 NHL season, another coach was fired this week, as the Vegas Golden Knights let Gerard Gallant go, and the New Jersey Devils upped the ante by firing their GM, Ray Shero. But the show must go on for those left standing, and that brings on another round

The Washington Capitals lead the NHL in wins, points and goals as they storm into their bye week. If there was a category for dramatic, come-from-behind, weekend, matinee victories in the NHL, the Capitals would probably lead that as well. 2 Related Alex Ovechkin scored three goals, continuing a recent run that is lofty for

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Stephen Johns played in his first game in almost 22 months when the Dallas Stars visited the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. Forward Radek Faksa was placed on injured reserve to make room for Johns on the active roster. Johns had been out since late in the 2017-18 season because of

SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida goalie Chris Driedger will miss several weeks with what’s believed to be a groin injury, the latest health issue at that position for the Panthers. The Panthers announced the diagnosis Saturday, calling it a lower-body injury. Driedger was hurt midway through the first period of the Panthers’ 4-3 win over the