DeBrincat is on the final year of his entry-level deal, and his extension keeps him with the Blackhawks through the 2022-23 season. He'll become a restricted free agent when it expires.
The 21-year-old broke out last season, recording 41 goals and 76 points over 82 games in his second NHL campaign.
DeBrincat was a steal for Chicago in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft. He ranks fourth in both points (128) and goals (69) among all players from that class.
By extending DeBrincat, Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman did his best to get ahead of what could be a very busy 2020 offseason for the club. Young forwards Dylan Strome, Drake Caggiula, Brendan Perlini, and Dominik Kubalik are all set to become restricted free agents next summer.
After scoring the game-winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks in the season opener on Wednesday night, Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid said he was grateful to play an important role in the victory following a difficult summer of rehab from a knee injury.
"Pretty close to (100%). I've still got lots of kinks to work out in my game," McDavid told Sportsnet's Scott Oake. "I've been working toward it but that goal means the world to me, honestly, it was a long summer and that just means the world to me."
McDavid suffered a torn PCL in the final game of the 2018-19 campaign, which created doubts about his status for the start of this season.
But with the score tied 2-2 on Wednesday, the 22-year-old flashed his trademark speed to split through the Canucks' defense before tucking the puck underneath the crossbar with 5:23 to play in the third period.
The 36-year-old forward is a healthy scratch for Wednesday's season opener at home against his former team, the Ottawa Senators.
"You definitely want to be part of these games," Spezza told the assembled media, including the Canadian Press. "They give you things to get excited about.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but I'm also a professional."
Offseason signing Nick Shore will center the fourth line as head coach Mike Babcock tries to find the right combination of players deeper in Toronto's lineup.
"I've talked to (Spezza) quite a bit about this and what we're doing and so we're on the same page moving ahead, and we're going to have a rotation with a few guys," Babcock said, according to TSN.
Babcock said Spezza will play in the team's next game and cited a need for more practice on the penalty kill as his reason for holding the veteran out Wednesday.
"He's the coach and he decides the lineup. I have to get to up to speed with what he wants," Spezza said, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton.
The Toronto native signed a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Leafs on July 1 after turning down more lucrative offers from other teams.
Keumper's agent, Ben Hankinson, confirmed that the deal carries an average annual value of $4.5 million.
The 29-year-old Kuemper is entering the final year of a contract that carries an annual cap hit of $1.85 million. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The Saskatchewan native is coming off his most productive NHL campaign, in which he posted a 27-20-8 record in a career-high 55 appearances.
Kuemper ranked sixth among all netminders (minimum 20 games played) in goals-against average (2.33), save percentage (.925), and shutouts (five) during the 2018-19 season.
Krug, 28, said in September that the sides had yet to begin negotiating an extension.
The 5-foot-9 rearguard is entering the final year of his current deal, which carries an annual cap hit of $5.25 million. He's set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Krug has been a staple on the blue line for the Bruins, leading all defenseman on the club in games played (302), goals (32), and points (207) since the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign.
The Royal Oak, Michigan, native tallied six goals and a career-best 47 assists for 53 points in 2018-19 while logging the second-most ice time on the Bruins with 21:18 per game.
The Toronto Maple Leafs star trolled Senators forward Scott Sabourin during an exhibition contest between the two sides on Sept. 18, and video of the incident went viral.
"I thought it was a little bit disrespectful, to be honest," Borowiecki said on Tuesday, according to The Canadian Press' Lisa Wallace. "We're not all blessed with Auston Matthews' talent, unfortunately, but I truly wish I was. Some of us have to do it the hard way."
Sabourin, 27, has spent seven years in the American Hockey League and is slated to make his NHL debut this season after cracking the Senators' roster out of camp.
"I'm not sure Auston appreciates what it's like being a fighter down there, it's a role he never had to play," Borowiecki said. "It's really tough when you know you're going to fight double digits every year and ride the bus around and get paid $70,000."
The Leafs host the Senators in their season opener on Wednesday night, which will be the first of four meetings between the two division rivals this season.
The Habs announced Tuesday that forward Ryan Poehling has been assigned to AHL Laval, meaning Suzuki and Fleury claimed the final roster spots.
Suzuki notched one goal and three assists in five preseason contests while impressing the club with his speed and skill.
The Vegas Golden Knights selected the 20-year-old with the 13th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. The Canadiens acquired him as part of a trade for former captain Max Pacioretty in September 2018.
Montreal selected Fleury in the third round of the 2017 draft. The 6-foot-1 rearguard tallied nine goals and 23 points in 60 AHL games in 2018-19.
Poehling was held to just two exhibition contests after suffering a concussion in the team's preseason opener against the Florida Panthers on Sept. 18.
A Canadian team hasn't hoisted the Stanley Cup since 1993, but a few clubs north of the border have serious chances to end the drought in 2019-20.
No season comes without its obstacles, however, and each Canadian team enters the campaign facing a unique challenge it must overcome to maximize its potential.
Flames: Establish reliable goaltending
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
The Flames are strong in nearly every area of the ice. The only real question mark is between the pipes.
Is David Rittich ready to take the reigns as a full-time starter? Can Cam Talbot bounce back and become a reliable option after consecutive down seasons? Calgary needs answers as quickly as possible.
Rittich was satisfactory last season, but the Czech puck-stopper's numbers waned in the latter half as a knee injury plagued him from the start of 2019 onward:
Date
GP
GAA
SV%
Oct. 3 - Dec. 29
22
2.25
.924
Dec. 31 - April 3
23
2.92
.899
Come playoff time, veteran Mike Smith stole the show and Rittich didn't play a minute of action. It remains to be seen if he can shoulder a starter's workload over the course of a full campaign.
Talbot, meanwhile, finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting after a sensational 2016-17 campaign but hasn't looked anything like a starting netminder since then: The 31-year-old has a 3.15 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage over his last 102 appearances.
The Flames have serious Stanley Cup aspirations, but the quality and consistency of their goaltending will define their ceiling.
Oilers: Live up to playoff pressure
Jeff Vinnick / National Hockey League / Getty
Few teams face more pressure to make the playoffs this season than the Oilers, who will have to adjust to a new regime as quickly as possible.
Connor McDavid looks healthy after a scary leg injury sustained in Edmonton's final game of 2018-19 kept him off the ice for most of the summer. Having the league's top talent miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five campaigns would be nothing short of a disaster, but the Oilers didn't add much on the ice this offseason to move the needle.
A new and experienced voice behind the bench in head coach Dave Tippett should benefit the club. But with the team pressed against the cap, general manager Ken Holland may have to wait until next summer to really put his stamp on the roster.
The Oilers will be hard-pressed to compete for a divisional playoff seed in the top-heavy Pacific, but a wild-card berth is certainly attainable if they can get off to a strong start.
Canadiens: Keep pace in tough Atlantic
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
The Canadiens have too much skill not to compete for a playoff spot, but their talent runs thin compared to the juggernauts atop the Atlantic Division.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Boston Bruins are practically locks to make the postseason, while the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres both made improvements this summer. An all-world season from Carey Price will go a long way, but the offense needs to be firing on all cylinders if the Habs are to stay competitive.
Montreal will need more from its top offensive talents - especially with the man advantage. Last season, the Canadiens' power play posted the league's 30th-ranked percentage (13.2%) while scoring the fewest total goals (31). Defenseman Shea Weber, who missed 24 contests due to injury, led the club with five power-play markers.
Several young talents including Nick Suzuki, Ryan Poehling, and Jake Evans could all force their way into Montreal's lineup at some point this season. If a playoff berth is firmly out of reach come February, the Habs will be faced with a decision: Run it back again in 2020-21, or enter a slight rebuild to give their younger talent more exposure.
Senators: Instill winning habits
Kevin Sousa / National Hockey League / Getty
It's highly unlikely the Senators shock the hockey world and step into playoff contention this season, and that's just fine. The club's focus for 2019-20 should be giving its promising young talent as much NHL exposure as possible.
D.J. Smith, a rookie himself as a first-time NHL head coach, will play a key role in this team's development. Ottawa may lose more often than not, but Smith understands a strong work ethic is paramount in building a winner.
"Instil the mentality that we won't be outworked," Smith said in an August interview with Sportsnet's Wayne Scanlan. "We're just not going to be easy to play against. We're not going to win every game, but it can't be easy to come here and get two points. When you play Ottawa, people need to know we're coming to play."
Defenseman Thomas Chabot and forwards Brady Tkachuk and Colin White represent a bright future for the Senators. If that trio can take some major steps in this season, consider it a productive campaign in Ottawa.
Maple Leafs: Keep Frederik Andersen fresh
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The Maple Leafs enter 2019-20 boasting arguably their strongest roster of the millennium, but it may not matter come playoff time unless they lighten Frederik Andersen's workload.
Since joining the Leafs in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, no goalie has started more regular-season games (192) or played more minutes (11,198) than the 6-foot-4 Dane.
Comparing Andersen's playoff stats from his final two seasons in Anaheim - where he shared regular-season duties with John Gibson - to his postseason totals with the Leafs, the numbers speak for themselves:
Season
Team
GP (season)
GAA (playoff)
SV% (playoff)
2014-15
Ducks
54
2.34
.913
2015-16
Ducks
43
1.41
.947
2016-17
Leafs
66
2.68
.915
2017-18
Leafs
66
3.76
.896
2018-19
Leafs
60
2.75
.922
It's essential the Leafs separate themselves from the pack as early as possible in order to afford Andersen more rest. Veteran netminder Michael Hutchinson looks poised to assume the backup role, but the 29-year-old has started just 12 NHL games over the past two seasons and it remains to be seen how much responsibility he can handle.
Canucks: Find depth scoring
Len Redkoles / National Hockey League / Getty
Beyond Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Bo Horvat, the 2018-19 Canucks lacked serious scoring punch. The club ranked 25th offensively and didn't have a single player break 35 points besides those three talents. Vancouver's potential bottom-six forward group for 2019-20 contributed a combined 47 goals in 316 man-games played last season.
Loui Eriksson, the club's highest-paid forward, and 2014 first-round pick Jake Virtanen need to find the net at a more consistent rate. Swiss winger Sven Baertschi could also play a major role this season after an injury-riddled 2018-19 campaign. The 26-year-old has tallied four points in four preseason contests and will look to carry that momentum into October.
General manager Jim Benning attempted to address his team's offensive deficiencies this summer by bringing in forwards Micheal Ferland and J.T. Miller. The Canucks will also have Quinn Hughes in the fold for a full season, and the young blue-liner should be able to contribute right away. Will those additions be enough to help the Canucks establish some depth scoring and push themselves into the playoff picture?
Jets: Figure out the blue line
Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty
The Jets' main priority is getting restricted free-agent forward Kyle Connor signed to a new deal. Assuming they succeed at some point in the near future, they still face another significant challenge - keeping pucks out of the net.
Dustin Byfuglien's future remains up in the air, leaving the club's opening-night blue line looking something like this:
LD
RD
Josh Morrissey
Neal Pionk
Nathan Beaulieu
Sami Niku
Dmitry Kulikov
Tucker Poolman
Winnipeg ranked 15th in goals against last season, and that was with Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers, Ben Chiarot, and Byfuglien in the fold. The former three averaged a combined 61:50 of ice time per night, a number that jumps to 86:12 when Byfuglien's minutes are included. That's a remarkable amount of ice time to replace, especially considering this season's projected right-side trio has combined for just 156 career NHL games.
The 2018-19 Jets were slightly below average in terms of five-on-five possession (Corsi For 48.97%). Early in their careers, Neal Pionk and Sami Niku have been far below average when it comes to this metric, with respective Corsi For rates of 42.59% and 43.99%. Pionk played his first two NHL seasons with a weak New York Rangers team, though, so Winnipeg's elite forward group should help boost his number.
Winnipeg has $14.85 million in cap space without Connor signed, according to CapFriendly. If and when the Jets ink him to a new pact, they should still have some financial flexibility to explore bolstering the blue line.
The Flyers are listing the center as week-to-week.
Patrick missed the final two games of the 2018-19 season with a concussion, but there's no word indicating that the diagnosis is concussion-related.
The 21-year-old mustered 13 goals and a career-best 31 points in his second NHL campaign. He also ranked fourth among Flyers forwards with 72 hits.
Patrick has contributed 26 goals and 61 points over 145 career contests since being selected by Philadelphia with the second overall pick at the 2017 NHL Draft.
Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur underwent successful quadruple bypass heart surgery on Thursday and is expected to make a full recovery, the team announced.
The club released the following statement at the request of Lafleur's family.
"Guy Lafleur underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery earlier this morning at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM). This procedure was necessary after a routine examination detected a cardiac issue. The operation was successful, and doctors predict a full recovery after several months of convalescence. The family wishes to thank the entire medical team, as well as the personnel at the CHUM, and will not issue any further comment."
Lafleur spent 14 NHL seasons with the Canadiens, one with the New York Rangers, and two with the Quebec Nordiques before retiring after the 1990-91 campaign.
The Quebec native is the Canadiens' all-time franchise scoring leader with 1,246 points and sits second in goals with 518. He captured five Stanley Cups with the club throughout the 1970s.
Lafleur ranks 27th all time in NHL scoring with 1,353 career points and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.
