Daniel Alfredsson is back with the Ottawa Senators organization with no official title, president of hockey operations Steve Staios told Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch.
"At this point in time, it's best for him to be around the players and the coaches quite a bit more," Staios said. "We're going to see how this evolves, but he's officially back with the organization."
Alfredsson was on the ice for Ottawa's practice on Friday morning.
Alfredsson is widely regarded as the best player in Senators history. He played 17 seasons with the club from 1996-2013 and is the franchise's all-time leader in goals (426) and points (1,108). In 2016, he was the first player to have his number retired by the organization and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last year.
Alfredsson worked as Ottawa's senior adviser of hockey operations after his playing career but decided to leave the organization in 2017 when his contract expired after two seasons.
The NHL is eyeing Mexico City as a potential international event site.
"Mexico City is on a short list because our teams are very interested in going there and exploring that market," NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer told ESPN's "The Drop" podcast.
The NHL has staged events across Europe for decades and has expanded to less traditional markets in recent years, such as China and Australia.
"Our international department and our events department get so many inquiries from all over the world, and we've heard from so many people that have done major events in big cities, and they love the fact that hockey can be viable in their countries," Mayer said.
The Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings have held camps in Mexico City, and the Arizona Coyotes are one of the teams pushing to play there down the road.
"I keep telling (the NHL), 'Guys, I don't think you understand. If you think there's a rabid fan base in Australia, any American sport event in Mexico is a massive deal for the country,'" Coyotes president Xavier A. Gutierrez said.
Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews is of Mexican heritage and said in 2021 that he'd love to play a game there.
The NFL, NBA, and MLB have all staged events in Mexico.
Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said his club wasn't prepared to start their highly-anticipated season opener after an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
"We laid an egg tonight; we all own it," Woodcroft said. "We're all in this one together. The bottom line is we were at a preseason level of work ethic and a preseason level of execution, all of us. We got a lesson in regular-season work ethic and regular-season battle level."
He added, "I saw us lose a ton of battles. Things that normally are hallmarks of our game did not show up."
The Oilers trailed 4-0 less than 10 minutes into the second period. Jack Campbell was replaced between the pipes by Stuart Skinner at that point, but neither goalie found success, each allowing four goals on 16 shots.
"Not sure how to explain that start to the season," he added.
Edmonton was a popular pick to compete for the Stanley Cup this year on the strength of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, along with some revamped depth. There's plenty of time for the Oilers to correct what went wrong in their first game, and the first opportunity comes Saturday with a rematch against the Canucks.
Pittsburgh Penguins winger Jake Guentzel will play in Tuesday's season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks, head coach Mike Sullivan announced.
Guentzel, 29, was expected to miss a handful regular-season of games after being given a 12-week recovery timeline from ankle surgery in August.
He's been a fixture alongside Sidney Crosby on Pittsburgh's top line in recent seasons while also earning top power-play minutes. Guentzel led the Penguins with 36 goals and ranked third with 73 points.
The forward has racked up 414 points in 453 games with the Penguins since making his debut in 2016-17. He enters the season on an expiring contract but recently said he wants to stay in Pittsburgh.
Puck drop for Tuesday's marquee matchup is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
The Columbus Blue Jackets want to trade a defenseman to create more flexibility on their roster at the position, sources told Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli.
Columbus revamped its blue line over the offseason by acquiring Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson. It's unclear who the Blue Jackets would prefer to ship out, but the newcomers, along with star rearguard Zach Werenski, are likely the safest.
Here's a look at the club's defensive depth chart on the cusp of the 2023-24 regular season.
LD
RD
Ivan Provorov
Damon Severson
Zach Werenski
Andrew Peeke
Adam Boqvist
Erik Gudbranson
Jake Bean is also on the NHL roster, and the Blue Jackets have a pair of high-profile prospects in their pipeline in David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk - both of whom were first-round picks in 2022.
Columbus ranked 31st last season in both shots against per game (35.4) and goals against (329).
The Blue Jackets begin their regular season Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers, marking their first contest under new head coach Pascal Vincent.
The Winnipeg Jets announced matching seven-year, $59.5-million extensions for stars Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck on Monday.
Both players were set to enter the upcoming season on expiring contracts. Their new deals carry $8.5 million average annual values and run through 2031.
Scheifele and Hellebuyck were commonly discussed as potential trade candidates throughout the summer and for the 2023-24 deadline if new deals weren't struck. In June, it was reported that Hellebuyck wasn't interested in signing an extension with the club.
However, prior to training camp opening in September, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said the club's "singular focus" was winning with Scheifele and Hellebuyck in the fold.
Scheifele was the Jets' first draft pick after the team relocated from Atlanta in 2011. He ranks third on the club's all-time games played list (723) while sitting second in goals (272) and points (645). The 30-year-old produced a career-high 42 goals in 68 games in 2022-23.
"I think it was really important, you know, to be a Jet for the next eight years," Scheifele said, per NHL.com's Jamie Thomas. "I think I'm going to be 39 when (the new deal expires). So, to call myself a Jet for life, it's an honor, really. Because not many guys get the opportunity to actually do that and be on one team their entire career."
Hellebuyck established himself as one of the league's top netminders since taking over the starting job in 2016-17. He owns a lifetime .916 save percentage and has been a Vezina Trophy finalist three times, winning the award in 2020.
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray will miss a minimum of six-to-eight months after undergoing bilateral hip surgery, the team announced Monday.
Murray was placed on long-term injured reserve in July, but the Leafs didn't specify the ailment he was dealing with. Toronto was reportedly looking to trade the netminder earlier in the offseason for salary cap savings.
The Maple Leafs acquired Murray from the Ottawa Senators last July. His debut season in Toronto was marred by multiple injuries that limited him to only 26 games in which he posted a .903 save percentage.
Murray is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The Maple Leafs will start the 2023-24 season with a tandem of Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll between the pipes.
The Buffalo Sabres have signed star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin to an eight-year contract extension carrying an average annual value of $11 million, the team announced Monday.
The deal is effective for the 2024-25 season, and will make him the second-highest paid blue-liner in the NHL.
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded forward Sam Lafferty to the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft, the team announced Sunday.
Lafferty will make $1.15 million this season and was a bubble candidate to make Toronto's roster with final cuts looming. The Maple Leafs will likely carry a roster smaller than 23 players due to salary cap restraints and could fill out their forward group by signing Noah Gregor from his professional tryout agreement or giving preseason standout Fraser Minten a chance.
All 32 NHL teams have until 5 p.m. ET on Monday to finalize cap-compliant rosters for the 2023-24 campaign.
Toronto acquired Lafferty prior to last season's trade deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks along with defenseman Jake McCabe. The 28-year-old winger managed six points in 19 regular-season games after the move and added a goal and two assists in the playoffs.
He was a fourth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014 and has registered 59 points in 210 career games.
There are countless ways to analyze what may lie ahead for the upcoming NHL season but, in this exercise, we're taking the philosophical route and asking a collection of questions with answers that, while unforeseen right now, will have a significant impact on the 2023-24 campaign when it's all said and done.
Let's dive right into it.
What's in store for new-look Bruins?
Maddie Meyer / Getty Images Sport / Getty
The Boston Bruins enter 2023-24 as one of the league's most fascinating teams. After rewriting the record books last year, the B's suffered a humiliating first-round playoff elimination before losing Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement. Boston is bound to regress from the best regular season in league history, but how steep will the decline be? New captain Brad Marchand believes his club will be just fine.
"I don't know how people look at the depth on our team and say that we're going to fall off the radar," Marchand told ESPN. "There's a great opportunity for everyone here to do something bigger and build something new and continue the legacy that those guys built."
He has a legitimate argument. Boston won two playoff games this past spring without Bergeron and Krejci, and the Bruins have made a habit of proving hasty naysayers wrong as their core's gotten older. Even though Boston likely won't compete for a second straight Presidents' Trophy, the club still boasts strength at every position group, is led by a Jack Adams-winning head coach, and plays in a division that could be more wide open than it appears. The Bruins have had the Maple Leafs' number for a decade, the Lightning and Panthers are starting the year with significant injuries, and the Senators, Sabres, and Red Wings are still trying to establish themselves as playoff contenders.
Perhaps Marchand is right?
Will the Erik Karlsson experiment work?
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
The Pittsburgh Penguins occupied much of the summer spotlight. They pried Kyle Dubas from Toronto, spent lavishly in free agency, then traded for the reigning Norris Trophy winner - a blockbuster that trumped all the club's other moves and will define a critical season in Steel City, where missing the playoffs again simply isn't an option.
Karlsson, 33, is coming off the best season of his Hall of Fame career, and one of the best we've seen from a rearguard in the modern era as he eclipsed 100 points. Equally as important, he played 82 games for the first time since 2015-16. His health is paramount going forward for the Penguins, who owe Karlsson $10 million per season through 2027. Age and price point were the main detractors among critics of Pittsburgh's pursuit of Karlsson, but the time for punditry has passed. Now it's time to see if Dubas' all-in gamble will pay off on the ice - and it's far from a guarantee.
The Penguins project to have one of Karlsson or Kris Letang on the ice for most of the game at even strength, where the former's presence should help Pittsburgh's breakout immensely. Karlsson will also be tasked with reviving the Penguins' star-studded - but 14th-ranked - man advantage. He and Letang will both get top-line power-play minutes to start, but two right-handed shots running the point is unconventional. Additionally, Pittsburgh had plenty of talent on its top unit last season, but couldn't click for whatever reason. Adding another weapon to the arsenal doesn't guarantee success if the plan of attack is off.
On paper, it's easy to see why adding Karlsson could be a home run for the Penguins, but time will tell if the transition will be seamless or not.
What lies ahead for this summer's trade bait?
Joel Auerbach / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Trade rumors ran rampant over the offseason for a glut of players entering the 2023-24 season on expiring contracts or on teams in the doldrums. Among the alleged bait: Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Brett Pesce, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Travis Konecny, to name a few. Alas, none of them were moved, and none of them were extended. Was the speculation all a ruse, or are we in for an all-time trade deadline in a few months?
The Jets and Flames looked destined for fire sales after rocky seasons but managed to keep most of their talent - namely the first four stars listed above - for another kick at the can. While their fans may be relieved to start the campaign with their rosters still intact, neither Canadian outfit is necessarily a lock to make the playoffs. If Winnipeg and/or Calgary are out of contention come the March 8 trade deadline, they could hold a serious influence over the frenzy. Contending teams will undoubtedly be calling about players of that caliber.
Elsewhere, Carolina seems content to let Pesce play out the final season of his contract and boast perhaps the deepest defensive corps in the league. A trade could have made sense a few months ago but, with the season upon us, why would the Cup-contending Canes give up such a vital piece? The same could be said for Kuznetsov and Konecny, even though the Capitals and Flyers don't have feasible championship aspirations.
Trading any of these players now isn't beneficial to their respective clubs, but it would be favorable for blockbuster-hungry fans if they're back in the trade mix within a few months.
Can the Senators or Sabres shake up the playoff race?
Andre Ringuette / National Hockey League / Getty
Many were shocked at the meteoric rise of the New Jersey Devils last season: They went from seventh in the Metropolitan Division to third in the entire NHL in one year. Naturally, many wonder who could be the next contender lurking in the shadows.
The two consensus options are Buffalo and Ottawa, who are set to make the Atlantic Division much more interesting in 2023-24. The Sabres and Senators were each on the cusp of the postseason last year, and both squads got better while, as mentioned above, the usual suspects in the division got a little bit weaker. It could be the perfect recipe for either - or both - teams to shift the landscape of the Eastern Conference.
Although the young core of the Senators has plenty of time to emerge into a powerhouse, this coming season is likely playoffs or bust for the jobs of head coach D.J. Smith and general manager Pierre Dorion. Ottawa hasn't reached the postseason since 2017, and a berth this year is the only appropriate measure of progress for a team with all the pieces to compete. A full year of Jakob Chychrun, while also adding Vladimir Tarasenko and Joonas Korpisalo to a rock-solid pre-existing roster, might make for something special in Canada's capital.
The Sabres will again ice a young, lethal offense and a modestly reinforced blue line as they look to snap the NHL's longest active playoff drought of 12 seasons. While much of Buffalo's roster will be the same as the one that missed the postseason by a single point in April, there's now a potentially massive improvement between the pipes in rookie Devon Levi. He's undeniably the Sabres X-factor for the season ahead and, if his debut campaign goes anywhere near as well as his path to the pros went, Buffalo could be in for a significant surge in the standings.
Is Bedard a lock for the Calder?
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Probably. But we're not gift-wrapping the hardware to Bedard just yet. The NHL's latest generational star is already putting on a show night in and night out during the preseason and is the rightful Rookie of the Year favorite. However, generational players aren't always decorated in their debut seasons - Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby can attest - and there's a deep group of freshmen that could cause some chaos in the Calder race. Let's highlight a few.
First, there's Coyotes stud Logan Cooley, who may have already scored the goal of the year with his dazzling spin-o-rama Down Under. The University of Minnesota product has a year on Bedard and will be given every opportunity to succeed with major ice time in Arizona.
Adam Fantilli, who went two picks after Bedard this summer, may already be the Columbus Blue Jackets' No. 1 center. He's a scintillating blend of size and skill and could enjoy a productive debut campaign playing in a sneaky talented top six.
Other candidates include the aforementioned Levi, who will be a lock to be at least a finalist if he leads Buffalo to the playoffs. Devils' youngster Luke Hughes has the name cache and the raw talent to be an immediate star, while Matthew Knies is going to get a golden chance to be an impact player on a Maple Leafs squad that should compete for a division title.
This question could age like milk if Bedard lights up the league in his first year as many expect but, at least for now, keep an eye on the rookie race in 2023-24.
