7:00 AM ET The coach on the other end of the phone scanned ESPN’s 2021 NHL position-by-position ranking player pools, his stress level increasing. “We’re talking about the best of the best,” he said, sighing. “Now you’re asking me to vote for the best of ‘the best of the best.'” Well, yeah, that’s sort of
NHL
10:39 PM ET ESPN News Services NEW YORK — Rasmus Asplund, Dylan Cozens and Jeff Skinner scored for Buffalo, on a rare night where the Sabres showed some offensive skill, but it wasn’t enough in a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers Monday. The defeat dropped Buffalo to a miserable 0-12-2 in their last
6:43 PM ET Monday night’s scheduled game between the Edmonton Oilers and Canadiens in Montreal has been postponed due to COVID-19-related reasons. The NHL made the announcement less than an hour before the 7 p.m. ET start time at Bell Centre. In its statement, the league said two Canadiens players entered the NHL’s COVID protocols
6:29 PM ET Associated Press Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney says the team is on schedule to return from its COVID-19 shutdown on Thursday night against the New York Islanders. The game also would be the first pro sporting event in Massachusetts with paying fans in the crowd since last March. The NHL on
7:00 AM ET Joe Pavelski is having one of the best seasons of his 15-year NHL career. Though the Dallas Stars are off to a slower-than-expected start after making it to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, Pavelski is carrying the load — especially as the team weathers early injury-related absences of Tyler Seguin, Ben Bishop
2:06 PM ET Associated Press DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche acquired Jonas Johansson from the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in a bid to shore up their shaky backup goaltending. The Sabres received Colorado’s sixth-round draft pick in a trade agreed to a day earlier. The Sabres had to wait for COVID-19 testing results after the
3:41 PM ET Associated Press PITTSBURGH — The Penguins say center Evgeni Malkin is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. The team placed the Russian star on injured reserve Thursday, two days after Malkin appeared to hurt his right knee in a loss to the Boston Bruins. Head coach Mike Sullivan described Malkin as “week
2:28 PM ET Associated Press The NHL has paused the Boston Bruins after four more players entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol. Bruins games Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres and Tuesday against the New York Islanders were postponed and team facilities closed until at least Wednesday. They’re the 36th and 37th games to be postponed this
1:45 PM ET When looking at a particular type of fantasy production, there are a few ways to parse the data. While taking a look at power-play fantasy points, I was torn between looking at the statistics raw, as a rate or as a percentage. So I settled on a little bit of all three.
7:00 AM ET Handing out midseason grades in a 56-game season presents its own sample-size challenges. Handing them out in a season in which some teams have yet to actually hit the midpoint, due to postponed and rescheduled games, only complicates things. That established, here are the 2021 NHL midseason report cards for all 31