The NHL has announced the three finalists for the 2024 Calder Trophy.  Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard, Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber and New Jersey Devils blueliner Luke Hughes are all in the running to be named the NHL's top rookie this season, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Bedard, 18, entered this season with a plethora of hype surrounding him. It was justifiable, as he was selected first overall in the 2023 NHL draft and was viewed as the league's biggest prospect since Connor McDavid. He lived up to expectations in his fir ..read more

Macklin Celebrini Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports The NHL season has come to a close, and we have the finalized draft lottery order.  San Jose finished with just 47 points, tying them for the sixth-worst record in a season with at least 82 games. Along with that, when super-rookie Connor Bedard wasn't on the ice, Chicago struggled in all aspects of the game. And Anaheim didn’t take the step many in hockey thought they would. The final lottery odds are as follows, with the odds at No. 1 overall in brackets: San Jose Sharks 18.5% (25.5%) Chicago Blackhawks 13.5% (13.5%) Anaheim Ducks 11 ..read more

Connor Bedard Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports Coming into the season, we all thought Connor Bedard would run away with the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year.  It took a performance no one saw coming and an injury to Bedard, but the race for the Calder ended up being tightly contested all season. It’s been a two-horse race for much of the year. Bedard has led most of the way, but there was a brief moment when Brock Faber pulled ahead. His incredible impact defensively and a blossoming offensive game stood out while Bedard was out of the lineup for a month-and-a ..read more

Marc-Andre Fleury Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports Marc-Andre Fleury will return to the NHL for another year. The 39-year-old goaltender signed a one-year contract extension with the Minnesota Wild worth $2.5 million, the team announced Wednesday. The Wild Flower blooms like no other ? We're excited to announce we've signed goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a one-year contract extension! More » https://t.co/V1T6fK4zId#mnwild pic.twitter.com/y2y3K4uKar — Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 17, 2024 Minnesota has one more game to play, hosting the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, but it won't be Fleury's NH ..read more

Dylan Larkin celebrates a third-period goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 11. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports The NBA’s playoffs begin Tuesday, and there’s something the NHL can and should learn from them.  Namely, the play-in portion of the post-season is again adding drama and intrigue to the playoff process. In both NBA conferences, the playoff structure initially sets up the seventh- and eighth-seeded teams to take on each other in a one-game playoff. The ninth and 10th seeds will square off as well.  The winner of the seventh/eighth matchup secures the seventh seed ..read more

Zeev Buium and Matt Davis Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports Saint Paul, MN - The Denver Pioneers are officially the best program in men's college hockey history. With a 2-0 victory over Boston College, the Pios became the first school to win 10 national championships and they did so in impressive fashion. The high-flying Eagles had not been shut out all season, but a stifling and structured Denver squad changed all that in the most important game of the season. Of course, it helped that the Pioneers got an incredible performance from goaltender Matt Davis, who was voted Most Outstanding Player of th ..read more

Vol. 39, No. 28, April 11, 1986 The Hockey News Archive For the second time in the past three seasons, Toronto Maple Leafs superstar and proud American Auston Matthews has produced more than 100 points. But in this feature story from The Hockey News’ April 11, 1986 edition (Volume 39, Issue 28) writer Jerry Zgoda profiled Neal Broten – the first American-born NHLer to hit the 100-point mark. (This is your daily reminder – for access to The Hockey News Archive, visit THN.com/Free and subscribe to the magazine.) In 1,099 career regular-season NHL games from 1981 to 1997, Brot ..read more

Brock Faber and Klim Kostin Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports Over the past week, we focused mostly on what it might take to sign stars such as Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl, Mitch Marner and John Tavares to new contracts. Today, we're circling back to highlight some recent noteworthy rumors involving clubs eliminated from playoff contention or those on the brink. A Big Payday For Brock Faber? On March 24, The Hockey News Minnesota's Dylan Loucks noted that Brock Faber took over second place among the Minnesota Wild's all-time rookie scorers. The 22-year-old defenseman has 43 points in 77 games and ..read more

Ryan Hartman Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports The NHL Department of Player Safety threw the book at Ryan Hartman after he threw his stick in the direction of officials. NHL Player Safety announced the Minnesota Wild forward has been suspended three games as a result of his unsportsmanlike conduct at the tail-end of Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Ryan Hartman has been suspended 3 games for unsportsmanlike conduct, after this play at the end of the game. Thoughts?? pic.twitter.com/YXW9omEMz7 — Everything Hockey (@EHClothing) April 1, 2024 After the Golden Knights scored on an em ..read more

Jonathan Huberdeau and Mikael Backlund Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports With the NHL’s 2023-24 regular season nearly finished, there’s a quartet of Western Conference teams where no team wants to be – the mushy middle.  They're the teams that will likely miss the Stanley Cup playoffs but aren't bad enough to get themselves a high pick in the next NHL draft. The four teams we’re talking about here are the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken.  Of course, there’s still an outside shot one of them beat the odds and wind up making the playoffs, but let’s be re ..read more