Islanders’ Prince out 4-6 months following ankle surgery

New York Islanders forward Shane Prince will be sidelined four-to-six months following ankle surgery, the team announced Monday.

Prince appeared in 50 games with the Islanders last season, recording five goals and 13 assists. The 24-year-old has one year remaining on his contract, and is carrying an $850,000 cap hit.

The Islanders originally acquired Prince from the Ottawa Senators at the 2016 trade deadline.

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Odds: Penguins, Oilers emerge as 2018 Cup favorites

Sidney Crosby versus Connor McDavid for the 2018 Stanley Cup?

Don't bet against it, oddsmakers say.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers have risen to the top of the board when it comes to this season's Cup favorites.

Meanwhile, stay far away from Detroit, New Jersey, Arizona, Vancouver, and Vegas.

Team Odds
Pittsburgh 6/1
Edmonton 9/1
Tampa Bay 12/1
Washington 12/1
Chicago 12/1
Minnesota 12/1
Toronto 14/1
Nashville 14/1
Montreal 16/1
New York Rangers 16/1
Dallas 14/1
Anaheim 14/1
San Jose 20/1
Los Angeles 20/1
Columbus 25/1
Ottawa 30/1
Boston 30/1
St Louis 30/1
Calgary 30/1
Florida 40/1
New York Islanders 50/1
Philadelphia 50/1
Winnipeg 50/1
Buffalo 60/1
Carolina 60/1
Colorado 100/1
Detroit 200/1
New Jersey 200/1
Arizona 200/1
Vancouver 200/1
Vegas 200/1

(Odds courtesy: Westgate)

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Odds: Penguins, Oilers emerge as 2018 Cup favorites

Sidney Crosby versus Connor McDavid for the 2018 Stanley Cup?

Don't bet against it, oddsmakers say.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers have risen to the top of the board when it comes to this season's Cup favorites.

Meanwhile, stay far away from Detroit, New Jersey, Arizona, Vancouver, and Vegas.

Team Odds
Pittsburgh 6/1
Edmonton 9/1
Tampa Bay 12/1
Washington 12/1
Chicago 12/1
Minnesota 12/1
Toronto 14/1
Nashville 14/1
Montreal 16/1
New York Rangers 16/1
Dallas 14/1
Anaheim 14/1
San Jose 20/1
Los Angeles 20/1
Columbus 25/1
Ottawa 30/1
Boston 30/1
St Louis 30/1
Calgary 30/1
Florida 40/1
New York Islanders 50/1
Philadelphia 50/1
Winnipeg 50/1
Buffalo 60/1
Carolina 60/1
Colorado 100/1
Detroit 200/1
New Jersey 200/1
Arizona 200/1
Vancouver 200/1
Vegas 200/1

(Odds courtesy: Westgate)

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Blues’ Fabbri expected to be full participant in camp after ACL tear

Barring any setbacks, St. Louis Blues forward Robby Fabbri is expected to be a full participant in training camp after tearing his ACL in early February.

The injury required major surgery and ended Fabbri's season. He's recently resumed skating with several teammates, although they're not yet permitted to make contact, according to Chris Pinkert of the team's website.

"Every morning, I'm working out in the gym," Fabbri said. "That involves a workout with (strength and conditioning coach Eric Renaghan) and doing the rehab things necessary for that day for my body and for what I'm feeling. Right now I'm skating twice a week, and that's just getting started.

"I keep upping the skates every time I go on and listening to my knee with everything to see how far I can push it."

Fabbri registered 29 goals and 37 assists in 123 games for the Blues since being drafted 21st overall in 2014. He's seen as a big part of the future in St. Louis, and is eager to prove he can bounce back from such a serious injury.

"I'm already seeing the improvements from the few skates that I've had," he said. "It's refreshing and it's exciting to get back on the ice and get back to what I love to do.

"I'm confident in myself that I'm going to be ready."

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Matt Greene joins Kings as pro scout

While Matt Greene may have been bought out this summer, he will remain with the Los Angeles Kings.

The former Kings blue-liner was named a pro scout by the club on Monday, the team announced.

Greene had been with Los Angeles since the 2008-09 season, aiding the club to Stanley Cup wins in 2012 and 2014. In 464 games with the Kings, he tallied 16 goals, 67 points, and 458 penalty minutes.

The Kings activated him off injured reserve in June - from a back injury suffered in January - after which the team bought out the remaining year on his contract.

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Dwight King signs 2-year deal in KHL

Dwight King is taking his game overseas.

The veteran forward, who split last season between the Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens, has signed a two-year contract with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the KHL.

King tallied nine goals and seven assists in 80 games last season. A fourth-round pick by Los Angeles in 2007, he's recorded 109 points in 365 career NHL games.

The 28-year-old won the Stanley Cup with the Kings in 2012 and 2014.

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Agent: Maple Leafs have placed Marchenko on waivers

The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed Alexey Marchenko on waivers, according to agent Dan Milstein on Monday.

A formal statement on the roster move will be released Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET, Milstein added. It's expected Marchenko will be bought out and he'll play in the KHL this season.

The Russian defenseman was under contract with the Leafs for this coming season at a salary cap hit of $1.45 million. He's scheduled to become a restricted free agent next summer.

Drafted 205th overall by Detroit in 2011, Marchenko was added to the Leafs' roster via waivers last season, registering one goal and one assist in 11 appearances with Toronto.

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Kansas City not entirely off radar for future NHL expansion

The NHL hasn't closed the book on returning to Kansas City.

Since opening its doors in 2007, the downtown Sprint Center, which seats more than 17,500 for hockey, has hosted five NHL exhibition games, and will do so again this preseason in a neutral-site contest between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues.

The Sprint Center is a rare new facility with no pro team as an anchor tenant, but the arena has been a proposed landing spot for a relocation, including the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007 and the New York Islanders in 2011.

Preseason contests, particularly those involving the cross-state Blues, allow the NHL to gauge hockey interest in Kansas City. But a team in the City of Fountains wouldn't be a first for the NHL. Kansas City was home to the expansion Scouts, who joined the league in 1974. The team lasted just two seasons before uprooting for Denver, then moving again in 1982 to become the New Jersey Devils.

While the Scouts are no longer, hockey interests in the city have continued to be served at the minor-pro level. For 11 seasons, the Blades skated in the International Hockey League, prior to the league dissolving in 2001, and most recently, the ECHL's Missouri Mavericks have carried local support.

"Kansas City has never been entirely off our radar screen," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Dave Caldwell of ESPN.com. "We have talked to potentially interested stakeholders in the past, and it's certainly a market that in the right circumstances (including a desire by our board to entertain further expansion) our league would fairly evaluate and consider.

"We have never studied whether the market demographics of Kansas City are likely to be suitable for an NHL franchise long-term because there has not yet been a need to do so."

Should the NHL eventually return to Kansas City, Mavericks owner and Kansas City Chiefs part-owner, Lamar Hunt Jr., has long been rumored as a potential franchise owner.

While Hunt did not submit a proposal as part of the NHL's most recent expansion process - he balked at the $500-million expansion fee, calling it "ridiculously big" in a July 2015 interview with The Kansas City Star - it does not mean the market is no longer a possibility for the NHL.

Before the NHL becomes a focus for Hunt, who still sees an NHL entry and an expansion bid as a challenge for the Kansas City market, the goal is to grow hockey interests at the grassroots level.

"Our analysis is that we really have to grow the youth programs here. We have to have more sheets of ice," said Hunt, who also serves on the executive board of the Kansas City Youth Hockey Association.

This season, the Mavericks, who drew more than 5,000 fans at the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in nearby Independence, Mo., will rebrand as the Kansas City Mavericks in an effort to drive the local hockey market.

"When you think of hockey in the state of Missouri, you think of one spot on the other side of the state," Mavericks general manager Brent Thiessen told Caldwell. "It's putting Kansas City on the hockey map, if you will."

Further growth of the city's budding hockey interests could be the key to the NHL's return to Kansas City.

"In evaluating potential locations for NHL teams, we typically look at three things," Daly said. "One, whether the market has or is building a suitable arena facility; two, the demographics of the market and whether they suggest an ability to support an NHL franchise; and, three, whether there is qualified and interested ownership to own and operate the franchise.

"While the Sprint Center certainly checks off the first of those boxes, the other two issues remain a work in progress."

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Chris Neil: Bryan Murray was like a father to me

The hockey world continues to mourn the passing of former NHL general manager and coach Bryan Murray, who succumbed to a three-year battle with colon cancer at age 74 on Saturday.

Perhaps the most poignant tribute came from one of the toughest to play for the Ottawa Senators in recent years, gritty winger Chris Neil, who remains an unrestricted free agent following 1,026 games with the team.

"(Murray) was like a father to me with the bond we had," Neil told the Ottawa Sun's Ken Warren. "He gave me an opportunity to play. I have so much respect for the guy for what he has done in hockey and what he has done in getting people checked out for colon cancer."

Neil, known largely for his willingness to drop the gloves for his teammates, scored 28 goals over the two full seasons Murray served as Ottawa's head coach - a testament to his ability to get the most out of his players.

"He got the most out of every single guy in the locker room. Whether you played four minutes or 24 minutes, guys would skate through the wall for him. In today's game, that's hard to find. He was really good at reading people and relating with players."

Neil also credited Murray for being a fighter to the very end, and for leaving a lasting impact as a result.

"He fought for a long time," Neil said. "When he was first diagnosed, he wasn't given much time, but he surpassed all that. He knew what he had to do. He got the word out about colon cancer. He was open and honest about it and he is going to save some lives because of it. He was remarkable."

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Predators’ Mazanec signs 1-year KHL deal

Goaltender Marek Mazanec signed a one-year contract with Slovan Bratislava of the KHL, the team announced Monday.

Mazanec is under contract with the Nashville Predators on a two-way deal for 2017-18 at a salary-cap hit of $650,000, according to Cap Friendly. This contract was agreed upon earlier this summer prior to a scheduled arbitration hearing.

The 26-year-old spent the majority of the past three seasons with the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals, and has been bumped down the Predators' depth chart by the emergence of Juuse Saros, who's expected to be Pekka Rinne's primary backup this season.

Drafted 179th overall in 2012, Mazanec made 31 appearances for Nashville, posting an 8-13-4 record with an .895 save percentage.

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