One of the NHL's most quietly impressive streaks came to an end on Monday.
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton failed to record a shot on goal for the first time since April 5, 2016, ending a streak of 296 consecutive games, according to NHL.com's Michael Smith. It was the longest active streak in the NHL.
Hall of Famer Ray Bourque holds the all-time record of 360 straight contests with a shot on goal since the league began recording the statistic. Bourque also holds records for most career shots (6,206) and most shots in a single game (19).
Hamilton still managed to pick up an assist in Carolina's 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators. He'll have a chance to start a new streak Tuesday in the Music City.
The emotion in Keith Yandle's emphatic goal celebration Sunday showed it was no ordinary tally.
Yes, it was the 100th career goal for the Florida Panthers defenseman, but he admitted he wasn't even aware of the milestone until he got back to the bench. The tally clearly meant a lot to Yandle, who had his ironman streak put in jeopardy this week when the team initially planned to have him serve as a healthy scratch before changing course.
"Anytime I score I'm pretty excited, but it was definitely a special one," Yandle said postgame, according to Fox Sports. "Seeing the guys and how excited they were for me definitely meant a lot."
Here's a look at Yandle's goal and the celebration that followed:
Yandle added that it was a relief when he was told he was going to play.
"Anytime you get to put on an NHL jersey and be able to represent your team is a special thing," he said.
A report initially surfaced Tuesday that Yandle had fallen out of favor with the Panthers and would eventually be a healthy scratch. Head coach Joel Quenneville confirmed three days later that the veteran blue-liner wasn't expected to play, but he then changed his mind prior to Sunday's contest.
"I was happy for him," Quenneville said postgame, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "And the bench was lit up as well. It's one of those moments where you look back at it and you can have a big smile."
Yandle's run of consecutive games played now sits at 867, which is the longest active streak in the league and the fourth-longest of all time.
Rank
Player
GP Streak
1
Doug Jarvis
964
2
Garry Unger
914
3
Steve Larmer
884
4
Keith Yandle
867
The 34-year-old has three years remaining on his contract, which carries an annual cap hit of $6.35 million and includes a full no-movement clause. He's one of the league's most productive offensive defensemen, ranking fifth among blue-liners in points over the last three years. He's drawn criticism for his defensive play, though.
However, the Panthers produced 58.9% of the expected goals while Yandle was on the ice at five-on-five during Florida's 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks - the best among the team's defensemen, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier will miss at least two weeks after suffering a Costochondral separation Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team announced.
A Costochondral separation occurs when your rib tears away from the cartilage connecting to the breastbone. Symptoms include sharp pain while breathing, coughing, or sneezing.
Couturier took a hit from Jared McCann on Friday during his second shift and didn't return.
After taking this hit early in the first period, Sean Couturier has yet to return to the game. pic.twitter.com/ygjFgKfOmu
Couturier produced 22 goals and 59 points last season and won the Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward.
The 28-year-old is Philadelphia's first-line center. It's unclear how the Flyers will fill his spot in the lineup, but moving winger Claude Giroux back to his natural center position is among the team's options.
It's also possible Morgan Frost gets inserted into the lineup. The 2017 first-rounder is a natural center and played 20 NHL games in 2019-20 but has yet to appear this season.
Smith posted a .902 save percentage and 2.95 goals-against average in 39 games with the Oilers last season. The 38-year-old veteran re-signed with the club on a one-year, $1.5-million contract in the offseason and was projected to serve as Mikko Koskinen's backup.
The Oilers recalled Stuart Skinner, who has no NHL experience, on an emergency basis. The 2017 third-round pick registered an .892 save percentage in 41 AHL games last season.
Additionally, the team reassigned Olivier Rodrigue, a 2018 second-round pick, from the Austrian League to the club's taxi squad, pending quarantine protocols. The 20-year-old owned a .908 save percentage in 23 games overseas.
The Oilers could also look to add a backup with NHL experience while Smith is sidelined.
Dowd was given a two-minute minor on the play. Krueger said he was surprised it wasn't more.
Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe, who went after Dowd following the hit, classified it as a dirty play.
"I didn't see the hit itself. I just saw Eric kind of do a helicopter, which is usually a sign of a hit to the head," McCabe told The Athletic's John Vogl postgame. "As we all saw on the replay, it was definitely to the head and pretty dirty."
"That's a tough hit," Hall told Vogl. "He's not even a really dangerous player at that point when he has the puck, so for their guy to go after him and make contact with his jaw like that, it's not something that you want to see."
Buffalo acquired Staal in an offseason trade with the Minnesota Wild for Marcus Johansson. The team brought in the veteran to fill a massive void as its second-line center behind Jack Eichel.
Amazon Prime Video and NHL Original Productions are partnering to create a multi-episode docuseries about the Toronto Maple Leafs' 2020-21 season, the league announced Wednesday.
"All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs" will provide an inside view of the team's campaign on and off the ice.
"This new Canadian original series will offer behind-the-scenes access and rarely seen (points of view) of the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the most storied hockey franchises - and my personal favorite team - during a season unlike any in NHL history," said James Farrell, Amazon Studios' vice president of local originals.
Amazon's "All or Nothing" series has followed several high-profile professional sports teams since launching in 2015. The Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur (2020) and the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles (2019) are among those to be recently featured. The Maple Leafs will be the first NHL team to appear in the series.
"This upcoming NHL season will be unique for many different reasons," said Maple Leafs president and alternate governor Brendan Shanahan. "We feel that 'All or Nothing' will provide our team a way to connect with Maple Leafs fans here in Toronto and around the world like never before."
The Maple Leafs have a rich history and a large fan base, yet they haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967 and last won a playoff series in 2004. But led by phenoms Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, Toronto is the betting favorite to win the North Division this season and has legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations.
The hockey world knew that Tuukka Rask's decision to leave the NHL's playoff bubble was due to a family emergency, but the Boston Bruins goaltender hadn't spoken about it until now.
“Everything happened so quickly,” Rask said Wednesday, according to Boston.com's Conor Roche. “... I got a phone call the night before (Game 3 against the Hurricanes) that our daughter wasn’t doing so well. They had to call an ambulance. At that point, my mind is spinning. I’m like ‘I need to get out of here.’ So then, the next morning I informed (Bruins president) Cam (Neely) and we had a brief talk and I just left.”
Rask said leaving his team during the playoffs and then watching from home was hard, but the veteran knew he made the right decision.
“It was a tough decision to leave, but then again, it wasn’t,” Rask said. “I knew it was more important for me to be home at the time. So, that was easy to live with.
"On the other hand, you’re home, knowing you could be there, you should be there playing hockey. So, it’s tough to watch the games. Your brain is kind of spinning at that point, knowing you’re at the right place at home but then again you should be there stopping pucks. So, it was tough for a few weeks.”
The Bruins lost in the second round with Jaroslav Halak between the pipes against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Rask finished second in Vezina Trophy voting last season after posting a .929 save percentage and a league-best 2.12 goals-against average over 41 games.
The 33-year-old will resume his role as Boston's starting netminder this year. Rask is entering the final season of his contract, but he's confident about reaching an extension with the team.
“I have no intention of playing anywhere else but the Bruins,” Rask said.
The following players likely won't be fantasy relevant during the 2020-21 season, but they could become incredibly valuable in keeper leagues down the road.
Most of these phenoms will need to be designated as not active (NA), so be sure to check your league's settings before drafting any of them.
Marco Rossi, C, Wild
Codie McLachlan / Getty Images Sport / Getty
It seems unlikely that Rossi, the ninth overall pick during the 2020 draft, makes the Wild this season. However, he's worth stashing with your NA spot.
When he does eventually debut in the NHL, there's a coveted first-line center job waiting for him. The Wild's system sorely lacks high-impact pivots, and Rossi could immediately be fantasy relevant while playing between the likes of Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov in a year or two.
Rasmus Sandin, D, Maple Leafs
Kevin Sousa / National Hockey League / Getty
After playing 28 NHL games last year, it may come as a surprise that Sandin will be hard-pressed to crack Toronto's lineup this season, but that's the truth. There are at least seven Maple Leafs defensemen ahead of the young Swede on the depth chart, so it'll likely take some injuries (or COVID-19 cases) for him to get into the lineup.
However, the Maple Leafs could easily lose Travis Dermott or Justin Holl in the expansion draft next year, and Mikko Lehtonen and Zach Bogosian might depart as unrestricted free agents. That would likely open the door for Sandin, who would be valuable in fantasy as part of Toronto's high-flying offense. Sandin produced an impressive 15 points in 21 AHL games as a 19-year-old last season.
Jamie Drysdale, D, Ducks
Codie McLachlan / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Defensemen tend to take longer to develop, so it may be a couple more years until Drysdale is a full-time NHLer. However, he could quickly become a fantasy producer upon his arrival.
Unlike Drysdale's world-juniors defense partner Bowen Byram (who was also considered for this list, but will probably make the NHL this year), the Ducks prospect has an opportunity to be his team's power-play quarterback of the future. Kevin Shattenkirk will likely fill that void for now, but the job should be Drysdale's once he emerges. That gives him a higher fantasy upside than Byram, who's behind Cale Makar in Colorado.
Jake Oettinger, G, Stars
Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty
Ben Bishop is likely out until March, so Oettinger is projected to begin the season as Anton Khudobin's backup and thus won't be eligible to be designated as NA. But he should start regularly, and Dallas' defensive system is fantasy-friendly for goaltenders. The 22-year-old was a first-round pick in 2017, and he posted strong AHL numbers last season, recording a 2.57 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 38 games.
Oettinger is undoubtedly Dallas' goalie of the future. But even though Bishop and Khudobin are both 34 years old, they're signed for three more seasons each. Unless one of them is traded or selected in the expansion draft, it may take some time before Oettinger ascends the depth chart. Patience could pay off, though.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, Sabres
Kevin Light / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Luukkonen lost some of his prospect shine after a rough AHL rookie season last year when he posted an .874 save percentage and a 3.15 goals-against average over 10 games. However, that happened coming off hip surgery. The 2017 second-rounder performed better overseas in Finland this season, registering a 2.64 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage in 12 contests.
The 6-foot-4 Finn is intriguing for fantasy purposes because of his relatively easy road to the NHL. Linus Ullmark and Carter Hutton are both on one-year deals with Buffalo, and the latter is unlikely to return next season. Ullmark has looked promising at times, but he's by no means locked in as the team's No. 1 goalie moving forward. If Luukkonen bounces back with a productive campaign in the AHL, he could contend for an NHL job as early as next season.
Josh Wegman has been theScore's resident fantasy hockey expert since 2015. Find him on Twitter @JoshWegman_.
Sullivan added that he doesn't know how long it will take for Kapanen's issues to be resolved.
The 24-year-old Finn was acquired in an offseason trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs for a package that included a 2020 first-round pick (Rodion Amirov) and prospect Filip Hallander.
Kapanen recorded 13 goals and 23 assists in 69 games with the Maple Leafs last season. He was projected to start the upcoming campaign on Pittsburgh's top line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.
