One day after an NBA player-led walkout forced the league to postpone games and led to other leagues doing the same in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, the NHL appears to be following suit.
The NHL is expected to postpone games through Friday, with all eight remaining teams affected, reports TSN's Darren Dreger, who adds that the league is finalizing Saturday's schedule.
Corey Crawford is interested in returning to the Chicago Blackhawks next season, but he wants to be sure he'll get the bulk of the time in the crease.
"I would like to be back," the veteran goaltender said Tuesday. "I think we still have a lot of great pieces on this team, and to win another Stanley Cup in Chicago would be unbelievable, so that's the No. 1 goal."
Crawford, a pending unrestricted free agent, plans to sit down with Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman to discuss his future this week, according to NHL.com's Tracey Myers.
"Going into the meeting, that's the main thing, to win a championship, to play, to be, obviously, the main guy, and play a lot," Crawford said.
The 35-year-old added that it's difficult to say what his mindset is heading into free agency, considering he and the Blackhawks were only eliminated last week. However, he reiterated that he wants to stay as long as he's given a heavy workload.
"Definitely, I'm leaning toward staying in Chicago and, like I said, I want to win another championship and I want to play a ton," Crawford said. "I don't want to play half the games and sit on the bench for stretches at a time. I think my value is just not as good doing that.
"I'm way more valuable playing games and playing consistently, so, it really depends on how much I'm going to be used. Salary, that can be discussed. That is definitely something that is not as important at this time."
Crawford split starts with Robin Lehner before the Blackhawks dealt Lehner to the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2019-20 trade deadline. Crawford went 16-20-3 with a .917 save percentage and 9.01 goals saved above average in 40 regular-season games this season before starting in all nine of Chicago's postseason contests.
Lehner played 33 games for the Blackhawks before the trade, going 16-10-5 with a .918 save percentage and a 10.17 GSAA.
Crawford has spent his entire 13-year career with Chicago, backstopping the club to Stanley Cup championships in 2013 and 2015.
Bruce Boudreau is indeed intrigued by the idea of reuniting with his hometown team as an assistant coach.
The longtime NHL bench boss, who's been out of work since the Minnesota Wild fired him in February, confirmed Monday he would welcome potentially joining the Toronto Maple Leafs as an assistant coach if the club is interested in hiring him.
“I understand they’ve asked for permission but nobody’s talked to me yet,” Boudreau told The Toronto Star's Kevin McGran. “I mean, I think the idea is cool."
It was reported last week the Maple Leafs reached out to the Wild over the last few months about interviewing him for an assistant coaching role, and those close to Boudreau said he was amenable to the idea. However, the 65-year-old reportedly still had his sights set on being a head coach again, a notion he confirmed Monday.
“The biggest part of it is I just want to be involved in hockey and coaching in the NHL again next year," Boudreau said. "My goal is to become a head coach but the idea of being an assistant in Toronto is really intriguing. That’s because it’s Toronto.”
The former Wild, Anaheim Ducks, and Washington Capitals bench boss believes the current Maple Leafs squad can vie for a championship despite its lack of recent postseason success.
“Even though they haven’t had the success they’d like, I think they’re good enough that they could be a Stanley Cup contender any year,” Boudreau said. “I mean, my goal has been to win the Stanley Cup before I retire … I mean that’s very intriguing.”
Boudreau was born in Toronto and played all but seven of his 141 NHL games with the Maple Leafs from 1976-82. The club selected him in the third round of the 1975 draft after he played three years in junior with the Toronto Marlboros.
The Leafs have assistant coaching vacancies following the departures of Paul McFarland and Andrew Brewer.
Fabbri's new deal carries an average annual value of $2.95 million, reports The Athletic's Craig Custance. His current contract has a $900,000 cap hit, according to CapFriendly.
The 24-year-old, who was a pending restricted free agent, collected 14 goals and 31 points in 52 games with the Red Wings this season after the St. Louis Blues traded him to Detroit for center Jacob de la Rose in November.
Fabbri had registered only one goal in nine games with the Blues in 2019-20 at the time of the trade, but he made an immediate impact upon joining the Red Wings. He notched two goals in his debut with his new club and racked up eight markers and 15 points over his first 16 contests with Detroit.
Though he was frequently beset by injuries through his first three NHL seasons with the Blues, Fabbri was a member of St. Louis' championship squad last season. He suited up for 10 playoff games in 2019, including two in the Stanley Cup Final.
Bednar added he's not sure how long Grubauer will be sidelined.
Grubauer suffered an apparent groin injury in the second period of Colorado's 5-3 loss in Game 1 on Saturday night. He went down after stretching to make a save and had to be helped off the ice.
Pavel Francouz stopped 18 of the 20 shots he faced after replacing Grubauer, who allowed three goals on 10 shots before his injury.
The backup netminder authored a 27-save shutout of the Stars in the round-robin stage and now has a .941 save percentage across three postseason appearances in 2019-20.
Francouz took over as the Avalanche starter earlier this season when Grubauer was hurt in a Stadium Series game against the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 15. After stepping into the No. 1 role, Francouz went 8-2-2 with a .919 save percentage in 12 games before the pause.
Grubauer regained the starter's role for the postseason and has gone 5-1 with a .922 save percentage in seven playoff contests.
Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan acknowledges that bringing Braden Holtby back won't be easy, and he says a decision regarding the goaltender's future hasn't been made.
"Still to be decided," MacLellan told reporters after firing head coach Todd Reirden on Sunday. "I think it's going to be difficult, but sometimes opportunities come up that you don't expect, and I think we'd like to play it out and see what happens here."
Holtby, a pending unrestricted free agent, has spent his entire 10-year career with Washington. He's in the final season of the five-year, $30.5-million pact the puck-stopper inked with the club in 2015.
The netminder, who will turn 31 in September, backstopped the Capitals to a Stanley Cup championship in 2018, but he's been mostly mediocre since. Holtby went 25-14-6 in 48 games this season while authoring a paltry .897 save percentage along with a minus-16.76 goals saved above average.
He posted a 2-6 record in the 2019-20 playoffs - including the round-robin stage - producing a pedestrian .906 save percentage over those eight contests.
McLellan also noted Sunday that Ilya Samsonov, the team's potential goaltender of the future, is expected to be ready for training camp. The 23-year-old didn't join his teammates in the Toronto bubble this postseason after suffering an injury beforehand.
Samsonov outplayed Holtby during the regular season, albeit over a smaller sample size. The rookie went 16-6-2 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.3 GSAA across 26 games.
The Capitals have nearly $71 million in team salary committed for 2020-21, when the salary cap will remain stagnant at $81.5 million. Holtby is currently carrying a cap hit of $6.1 million, and a handful of other Capitals players are slated to become either restricted or unrestricted free agents.
It's safe to say Allan Walsh isn't happy about Marc-Andre Fleury's diminished role in the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Saturday, the prominent hockey agent, who represents the Vegas Golden Knights goaltender, tweeted an image showing a sword with head coach Peter DeBoer's surname inscribed on its blade stabbing Fleury through the back.
DeBoer recently indicated the Golden Knights' other primary netminder, Robin Lehner, would continue to start when Vegas begins its second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't lost in regulation to Vancouver in 14 years.
I asked about opponents and lineups with that in mind. This was DeBoer's exact quote.
"When I think about it, I don't think it changes our roster decisions or our line makeups, at least not for Game 1." https://t.co/2krnbcWRuX
Lehner has usurped the starter's role from Fleury in the postseason. The Golden Knights acquired the former New York Islanders goalie from the Blackhawks at this year's trade deadline.
Fleury played in only one of the Golden Knights' five games against the Chicago Blackhawks - a 2-1 Vegas victory in Game 3 - during the opening round of the playoffs. He also started in just one of the team's three round-robin contests.
This is the first edition of theScore's rankings of the top candidates to be named 2019-20 playoff MVP. We've featured only players still competing in the postseason, which officially included the qualifying round and round-robin stage.
1. Carter Hart
Mark Blinch / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
Record
SV%
5-on-5 GSAA
GAA
8
6-2
.943
4.84
1.71
One of the biggest question marks heading into the playoffs was how Hart would perform in his first taste of postseason action, but the 22-year-old Philadelphia Flyers goaltender has delivered in spades. His save percentage ranks first among puck-stoppers who've played at least three games, and he boasts the third-best goals saved above average at five-on-five among all netminders in the postseason.
Hart's play is even more impressive when considering he's excelling without much offensive help from his teammates. The Flyers have managed only 2.44 goals per game - second-lowest among teams still playing - and yet he's looked more than comfortable in the Philadelphia crease, making the strongest case to be the Conn Smythe Trophy front-runner.
2. Nathan MacKinnon
Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
G
P
ATOI
xGF%
SCF%
8
4
13
20:10
64.77
67.71
MacKinnon is arguably the leading candidate for the Hart Trophy this season, and the Colorado Avalanche superstar continues to provide immense value in the playoffs, as well. Prior to the start of the second round, he sits tied for first in both points and assists despite playing fewer games than his counterparts. He's also logged his usual 20-plus minutes per contest while registering truly dominant possession figures.
Several other Avalanche players have made big contributions during the team's run, but there's no doubt MacKinnon's been the catalyst and one of the most impactful players this postseason.
3. Miro Heiskanen
Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
G
P
ATOI
xGF%
SCF%
9
3
12
26:06
57.32
56.39
Now that John Klingberg has six seasons under his belt, Heiskanen has emerged as the Dallas Stars' best young defenseman and been critical to their playoff success. The 21-year-old has looked like a grizzled vet since the restart.
The talented blue-liner erupted for four points in the Stars' series-clincher against the Calgary Flames, joining a relatively short and impressive list in the process. However, it wasn't just that one game that cemented his spot on this list. Heiskanen sits in a tie for second in points among all skaters through first-round action, and only Tampa Bay Lightning rearguard Ryan McDonagh has logged more ice time among players on teams still competing.
4. Elias Pettersson
Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
G
P
ATOI
xGF%
SCF%
10
4
13
19:40
50.33
53.45
If these playoffs have taught us anything, it's that Pettersson has shed the "phenom" label and is now a full-fledged star. The 21-year-old is tied with MacKinnon for the postseason points lead through the opening round, albeit in two more contests than the Avalanche dynamo.
Pettersson has been typically consistent in his first taste of playoff competition. The productive Swede was held off the score sheet only once in the Vancouver Canucks' six-game series win over the St. Louis Blues, and, similarly, just once did he fail to notch a point in the four games the Canucks needed to dispatch the Minnesota Wild in the qualifying round.
5. Semyon Varlamov
Chase Agnello-Dean / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
Record
SV %
5-on-5 GSAA
GAA
9
7-2
.934
5.34
1.67
Varlamov is the biggest reason the New York Islanders made such quick work of both the Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers. New York's No. 1 goaltender has been stellar throughout the postseason, sitting in a tie with Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom for the most wins and ranking second behind Markstrom in GSAA at five-on-five despite playing one fewer game than his Western Conference counterpart through the opening round.
The Islanders goalie hasn't needed to make more than 27 stops in any of his nine postseason appearances, but New York wouldn't have eliminated the Capitals in five or the Panthers in four without him.
The NHL denounced NBC hockey analyst Mike Milbury's comment during a broadcast Thursday when he suggested women would be a distraction for players in the bubble.
"The National Hockey League condemns the insensitive and insulting comment that Mike Milbury made during (Thursday) night's broadcast and we have communicated our feelings to NBC," the league said in a statement Friday. "The comment did not reflect the NHL's values and commitment to making our game more inclusive and welcoming to all."
Milbury is the second NBC hockey analyst to make inappropriate remarks about women this season. The network suspended Jeremy Roenick indefinitely without pay in December after the former NHL forward made comments of a sexual nature about then-co-worker Kathryn Tappen.
