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NHL draft week news and rumors: Expansion buzz, trade candidates, more – ESPN

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In the NHL, we typically call July “cottage season.” After the free agency frenzy of July 1, players and executives get lost for a few weeks, retreating to summer homes and vacation spots across the world (though if it’s in Canada, that home is almost always called a cottage).

Nothing is typical about 2021. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup on July 7. The buyout window opened on July 8. Protection lists for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft were due over the weekend. On Wednesday, we’ll have the expansion draft, and the entry draft is Friday and Saturday. Then on July 28, free agency begins.

“Craziest three-week stretch I remember in my time in the league,” one front office executive told me last week. He has nearly two decades of experience.

I worked the phones over the past few days to get some buzz on what to expect this coming week, and beyond.

Kraken honing in on a netminder?

The Kraken will need at least two goalies, and it seems they have settled on one: Chris Driedger of the Florida Panthers. In fact, word is Driedger should be signing a multi-year deal after being the selection from the Panthers; I’ve heard it’s in the three-year range.

There are some great, young, budget-conscious options for Seattle to choose if Driedger is goalie 1A. I texted an NHL goalie coach on Sunday to find out whom he would choose as the backup to Driedger. His answer: Kaapo Kahkonen of the Minnesota Wild or Vitek Vanecek from the Washington Capitals.

Let’s make a deal

The Kraken haven’t tipped their hand much, but behind the scenes they have been playing hardball the last few weeks from what I’ve heard. If a team wanted assurance that one of their unprotected players wouldn’t be selected, Seattle’s initial asking price was a first-round pick as compensation, at minimum. I do believe some side deals were made.

The Kraken are also expected to flip some of their expansion picks immediately after being selected — just as the Vegas Golden Knights did — so expect them to stay busy.

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Former Golden Knights general manager George McPhee discusses how other NHL teams might handle the upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft.

Who’s heading to Seattle?

I canvassed one veteran player, one prominent agent, one assistant coach and one front office executive on Sunday after the protection lists came out, and asked: Who are the most obvious pickups for the Kraken? The two most common answers were Yanni Gourde (Lightning) and Max Domi (Blue Jackets).

Domi is coming off a rough season and had shoulder surgery in June, which should sideline him until at least November. But he’s a former 70-point score on an expiring deal — making him a good player to flip at the trade deadline.

As for Gourde? The Lightning left the Kraken plenty of valuable players, thanks to their cap crunch, but Gourde is a gritty, do-everything center around whom a team can build a line.

Two blueliners that could be fits

The veteran player, a defenseman, also thought Calvin de Haan (Blackhawks) and Brenden Dillon (Capitals) would make sense for Seattle.

“Both those guys are on good deals,” the player said. “De Haan has been rumored to the Kraken for a while. Dillon played junior hockey in Seattle [the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds], so I bet they’ll want some guys with local connections.”

Top of the draft coming into focus

Owen Power is the presumed No. 1 pick of Friday’s draft, and it would be surprising if the Buffalo Sabres didn’t select the 6-foot-6 defenseman.

“I’d be just as stunned if Matty Beniers doesn’t go to Seattle [at No. 2],” one scout told me last week.

When I talked to the Massachusetts-born Beniers last week, he told me he idolized Patrice Bergeron and models his game after him. “Watching him pretty much my whole life, that’s a guy I’ve always admired,” Beniers said. “So I’ve tried to make myself into that type of player, a responsible two-way player with skills to make plays, but also has a really strong hockey IQ.”

Beniers is often noted for his high motor, too. The scout told me he thought Beniers would go No. 2 because of his talent, but also because it will be harder for Seattle to find centers later in the draft.

How high will Klimovich go?

A sleeper pick in this year’s draft: Danila Klimovich, from Belarus, who could sneak into the first round. Like Yegor Sharangovich (No. 141 overall to the Devils in 2018) Klimovich burst onto the scene late, in part because of lower exposure being from Belarus.

Klimovich didn’t have a chance to play in North America until this year’s IIHF under-18 world championships in Texas — and what an impression he made.

“At the same time the U.S. and Finland were playing, every GM cleared the nice rink in Dallas and went to the s—ty one where the Belarusians were playing,” one person who attended the tournament said. “Because Klimovich was so good, they had to see him for themselves.”

The center scored six goals in five games that tournament.

Wait, Ovi is on the available list?

In leaving pending unrestricted free agent Alex Ovechkin off their protection list, the Capitals were able to protect an additional forward, which ended up being Daniel Sprong.

Ovechkin’s unprotected status is only a formality. Most people in the league believe there’s a handshake deal or at least a framework of a new deal in place between the Caps and their captain, which should be announced after the expansion draft.

Hughes family reunion

In May, I was told: “If Luke Hughes is there for them, the Devils or the Canucks will have a hard time not taking him.”

Then the draft lottery happened. The Canucks, who have 21-year-old Quinn Hughes, got the ninth pick. The Devils, with 20-year-old Jack Hughes, pick at No. 4.

It’s tough to imagine Luke Hughes falling to No. 9 at this point. Most people I’ve talked to think New Jersey will end up selecting the youngest Hughes brother. If the Devils don’t go Hughes, the other player they seem to be hot on is Swedish defenseman Simon Edvinsson.

A goalie in the top 10?

There are teams in the top 10 of the draft thinking about selecting goalie Jesper Wallstedt. I was impressed by Wallstedt’s maturity when I spoke to him on the phone last week. He grew up idolizing Henrik Lundqvist, and even went to Lundqvist’s goalie camps as a kid.

Drafting a goalie in the first round hasn’t seemed so risky or rare the last three years. Florida feels great about selecting Spencer Knight at No. 13 in 2019, and Nashville selected Yaroslav Askarov at No. 11 last year, who was viewed as an exceptional talent.

Wallstedt isn’t the only goalie projected to be taken in the first round this year; Sebastian Cossa is the other. I also loved talking to him, and enjoyed learning that he played football for five years as a center and a linebacker. Rarely do you see a football/hockey crossover athlete.

There are some teams that view Cossa ahead of Wallstedt, so it will be intriguing to see where both end up.

Chicago looking for goaltending

Even though they picked a goalie in the second round last year (Drew Commesso) it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Blackhawks draft another goalie, this time in the first round.

I also was told the Blackhawks could be active in free agency for a goalie; there are plenty of veteran options available.

New Jersey ready to spend?

The New Jersey Devils are trying to accelerate their rebuild and expect to be more competitive in 2021-22. Acquiring Ryan Graves in a trade from the Avalanche was step one.

I hear that they are also in the market for a veteran goalie (just like last year, when they signed Corey Crawford, who retired before suiting up in a game for them).

The Anaheim Ducks left Henrique unprotected, after trying to trade the forward last year to no avail. If he is not selected, it sounds like the Ducks will still try to move him this year, but may have to retain some of his $5.85 million salary.

Latest on the Seth Jones trade front

It’s hard to get a sense of when a Seth Jones trade may go down, as Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen isn’t afraid to do the bold move — like hold onto a player who doesn’t want to re-sign, on an expiring contract, to begin the season.

The expectation, however, is that Jones will be moved at some point — though his situation isn’t as untenable as Jack Eichel‘s is in Buffalo or Vladimir Tarasenko‘s is in St. Louis. In both Eichel’s and Tarasenko’s cases, it seems the loss of trust between player and club seem irrevocable.

What to make of the Isles’ decisions

When the protection lists came out and I saw Josh Bailey and Jordan Eberle both available from the Islanders, my first instinct was that GM Lou Lamoriello cut a side deal with Kraken GM Ron Francis. That might be the case, but it was pointed out to me that a theme of the Islanders protection list is cost-cutting, which falls in line with their recent moves shedding the contracts of Andrew Ladd and Nick Leddy.

The Islanders are often the toughest team on which to get information, as Lamoriello runs a tight ship. But we know that getting a new deal for restricted free agents Anthony Beauvillier and (especially) Adam Pelech are priorities for the Islanders. It appears re-signing UFA Casey Cizikas is also high on Lamoriello’s to-do list.

Should Seattle select Bailey or Eberle, the door for Kyle Palmieri to re-sign will be opened, or the recently bought-out Zach Parise to slot in.

New York also needs to replace Nick Leddy, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Isles in on the Ryan Suter courtship.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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11 hours ago

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October 18, 2024

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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October 17, 2024

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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October 17, 2024

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

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