Thomas Greiss issued an apology Friday night for approving of controversial Instagram posts during the U.S. presidential campaign, including one that compared Hillary Clinton to Adolf Hitler.
“I apologize for interacting with several posts that appeared in my timeline, which were wrong to engage with,” the New York Islanders goaltender said in a statement through the team, according to Newsday's Arthur Staple.
“‘Liking’ these posts was a mistake, and I sincerely apologize again."
The German goaltender, who's representing his home country at the ongoing World Championship, was criticized by the German hockey federation for his actions, prompting his apology as well as a separate one from his NHL club.
“The New York Islanders do not condone the actions of Thomas Greiss on social media and are addressing the situation internally,” the team wrote in a statement to Newsday. “And Thomas regrets his actions and recognizes that he made a mistake.”
Greiss was the Islanders' starting netminder for most of this season, appearing in a career-high 51 games at the NHL level after signing a three-year extension in January.
James Neal was the hero for the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night, but Mattias Ekholm deserves credit for a tremendous sequence that led to the winner in overtime.
Ekholm played like a man possessed before Neal's goal, embarrassing Corey Perry, driving to the net, recovering the puck, and setting up the decisive marker.
Let's take a closer look at exactly how he did it.
We begin with Ekholm (No. 14 in white) controlling the puck along the boards after taking a pass from Neal.
Ekholm sees Perry closing in on him.
Bye, Felicia.
After burning Perry, Ekholm sets his sights on goal, despite not exactly having a clear path.
He cuts toward the goal as a pair of Ducks (Nate Thompson and Cam Fowler) stand ready to meet him, with Perry trailing Ekholm in hot pursuit.
Ekholm somehow makes it to the front of the net untouched, as the trio of Ducks look on.
He gets a shot off, but it's denied by goaltender John Gibson and the slew of bodies in front of him.
A mad scramble ensues and the puck trickles into the corner, but Ekholm stays with it and regains possession.
Ekholm feeds P.K. Subban, who appears ready to tee up a howitzer.
But it's a fake, and Subban instead dishes off to Neal.
Neal makes no mistake, firing a shot in off Perry's melon to end it.
Ekholm assisted on two of Nashville's goals Friday night, while only Fowler and teammate Roman Josi logged more ice time than Ekholm's 31:05.
Subban's pass and Neal's shot got plenty of attention, and deservedly so, but they wouldn't have been possible without Ekholm's series of impressive plays in the moments leading up to the winner.
With the offseason underway for a number of teams, and the remainder to join them in a few weeks, we're looking at what's in store for each club in the coming months.
2016-17 Grade: D
It's tough to fault the Red Wings for a disappointing season that saw their illustrious playoff streak end at 25 years. After all, this felt like an inevitability following two consecutive seasons squeaking into the dance.
An old roster, without Pavel Datsyuk this time around, simply wasn't competitive, ranking 26th in goals for (198), 26th in goals against (244), and 27th in power-play efficiency (15.1 percent).
As the era of Little Caesars Arena begins, an unprecedented era of dominance concludes with several questions at the forefront for general manager Ken Holland.
Free Agents
The Red Wings began to unload assets at the trade deadline, but despite accumulating draft picks, numerous cap-strapping contracts hinder Detroit's salary flexibility.
Player (Position)
2017-18 Status
Age
2016-17 Cap Hit
'16-17 Points
Tomas Tatar (F)
RFA
26
$2.75M
46
Drew Miller (F)
UFA
33
$1.025M
7
Andreas Athanasiou (F)
RFA
22
$628K
29
Xavier Ouellet (D)
RFA
23
$715K
12
Holland will surely retain Tatar, Athanasiou, and Ouellet. Miller, on the other hand, your time has come.
2017 Draft Picks
Detroit was apparently one lottery ball number from selecting No. 1 overall. Imagine that - earning the top pick as a reward for missing the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century.
Alas, here's how Detroit stacks up for June's entry draft.
Round
Picks
1
1 (9th overall)
2
1
3
4 (CHI+FLA+NYR+TOR)
4
1
5
1
6
Own+FLA
7
1
Summer Priorities
Commit to the rebuild
Holland is of the opinion that a re-tool is a viable solution going forward. He doesn't believe in tanking. He believes in accountability and development - a recipe that must be tough to stray from considering his list of accomplishments.
However, a full-blown rebuild is the only option going forward. With so many draft picks, Holland and Red Wings brass needs to use its scouting expertise to find their next crop of stars, the way they did with Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, as well as Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Fedorov before them.
The draft holds no guarantees, but it's any team's best chance. Detroit needs to utilize it.
Dump salary
A re-tool via free agency would be much easier if Holland didn't dig the Red Wings a hole to the depths of salary cap hell.
Here's a look at some of the constricting contracts weighing Detroit down.
Player
Age
Cap Hit
Contract Expires
2016-17 Points
Zetterberg
36
$6.083M
2021
68
Frans Nielsen
33
$5.25M
2022
41
Justin Abdelkader
30
$4.25M
2023
21
Darren Helm
30
$3.85M
2021
17
Niklas Kronwall
36
$4.75M
2019
13
Zetterberg, a Red Wings legend, will close out his career with the "C" above his winged wheel, and Kronwall likely isn't going anywhere either.
The others, however, should be shipped immediately to anyone willing to take on their fees, though that may prove much easier said than done.
Move Jimmy Howard
Whether it's via expansion draft or trade, the time is now for Detroit to move on from Howard.
He had a strong season before being injured (again), but handing the crease to the younger, cheaper Petr Mrazek makes the most sense.
2017-18 Outlook
It's a changing of the guard in Motown, and life outside the playoffs could very well be the new norm in Detroit for a while.
The Red Wings should use 2017-18 as an evaluative season rather than setting any unrealistic expectations, as much as that may bother the boss.
Frankly, Detroit still has some promising pieces in its core in Larkin, Athanasiou, and Anthony Mantha, as well as plenty developing prospects patrolling the AHL in Evgeny Svechnikov, Martin Frk, Tomas Nosek, and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Taking advantage of the draft, infusing new youth to the lineup and shedding salary should be at the top of Detroit's to-do list next season.
Latvia's roster at the World Championship has very little NHL experience. There's Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons, who has 277 games in the show under his belt. Then there's Kaspars Daugavins, who skated in 91 games with the Senators and Bruins before heading to the KHL.
That's it.
However, behind the bench, Latvia boasts 463 NHL wins, six division titles, and one Stanley Cup championship. Head coach Bob Hartley can take credit for that.
Yes, the same Bob Hartley who has coached 944 games in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche, Atlanta Thrashers, and most recently, the Calgary Flames.
He's had success everywhere he's been. He won a cup in Colorado, is the only coach ever to say they brought the Thrashers to the playoffs, and took a Flames team to the second round of the playoffs in 2014-15 that frankly had no right being there.
Hartley was let go by the Flames after the 2015-16 season. He hasn't coached in the NHL since, but has instead found success coaching the Latvian national team. So far at the World Championship, Latvia has three wins and two losses and sits in fourth place out of eight teams in Group A.
How the club has performed against superior hockey nations is what should grab the attention of NHL clubs looking to fill a head coaching vacancy.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
In its first two games at the World Championship, Latvia defeated Denmark and Slovakia - two teams that may not be powerhouses, but also aren't pushovers - by a combined scored of 6-1. They then unsurprisingly beat Italy, but then gave both Sweden and USA a run for their money.
The Latvians lost to an experienced Swedish team just 2-0, and most recently dropped their matchup with the United States 5-3 (which included an empty-netter). Hartley and the Latvians can certainly hold their heads high, even though they blew a 3-1 lead in the latter game.
What Hartley has shown in Cologne, Germany is that he can take a far less talented team and remain competitive with some of the best hockey nations in the world, thanks to his defensive style of coaching.
Considering his resume, ability to adapt, and willingness to stuff his pride and coach a country that only has 19(!) total hockey rinks, he is deserving of another NHL gig.
The Buffalo Sabres and the Florida Panthers are the only two teams with head coaching vacancies at the moment, but they would be smart to, at the very least, bring Hartley in for an interview.
Here's what happened on Day 9 of the World Hockey Championship in Paris, France and Cologne, Germany.
Switzerland 3, Canada 2 (OT)
Fabrice Herzog is a Swiss hero as the 22-year-old Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick (fifth round in 2013) scored the overtime goal on Calvin Pickard to earn a massive comeback win over Canada.
The Canadians jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to first-period goals scored by Ryan O'Reilly and Mitch Marner, resulting in the pulling of Jonas Hiller in favor of Leonardo Genoni, who did not allow a goal against in relief.
After a scoreless second, the Swiss responded with two goals in the third to tie the game; Herzog and Vincent Praplan did the damage, with Herzog's first coming on the power play after a Mike Matheson delay-of-game penalty.
Canada's record falls to 4-0-0-1 (13 points) while Switzerland improve to 2-2-1-0 (11 points), jumping into second place in Group B.
United States 5, Latvia 3
The U.S. overcame a pair of two-goal deficits to fend off Latvia and improve to 4-0-0-1 in the preliminary round Saturday.
Andrew Copp scored the eventual winner with 3:22 remaining, going end to end and firing a shot that trickled in off goaltender Elvis Merzlikins's glove to make it 4-3.
The Americans trailed 3-1 late in the second period, but Nick Bjugstad cut the Latvian lead to one and Johnny Gaudreau tied it with less than 90 seconds left before the intermission.
The upstart Latvians jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Kaspars Daugavins' goal seven seconds into the middle stanza.
Latvia was outshot 15-6 in the third. They fall to 3-0-0-2 and now sit fourth in Group A, while the U.S. leads the group.
For full scores and coverage, visit the IIHF's World Championship website.
James Neal played the role of hero in Game 1 as the Nashville Predators forward drilled a one-timer past John Gibson midway through the first overtime period to help his team earn a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
The goal was a relief for the Predators in more ways than one as Neal had left the game earlier after appearing to suffer an injury. Luckily, he returned and the Predators were all the better for it, earning their first win in their first ever appearance in a conference finals series.
Overall, Nashville severely outshot the Ducks, recording a 46-29 advantage over Anaheim, including a 15-6 margin in the first period.
As for Neal, the goal was his fourth of the postseason, giving him a share of the team lead alongside Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, and Filip Forsberg.
The Nashville Predators are getting contributions from everyone this postseason.
Thanks to a fortunate bounce early in the second period of Game 1 against the Anaheim Ducks, Austin Watson became the 15th different Predators player to score a goal in the 2017 playoffs - the most of any club this postseason and a franchise record, according to Bob Waterman of Elias Sports Bureau.
Team
Number of Goal-scorers
Predators
15
Senators
13
Rangers
13
Penguins
13
Ducks
13
Capitals
12
Oilers
12
Blue Jackets
10
Maple Leafs
10
Blues
10
Sharks
9
Canadiens
9
Bruins
9
Wild
6
Flames
5
Blackhawks
3
Austin Watson picked a great time to score his first goal of the playoffs!
The Predators have played just 11 games and were averaging 2.8 goals per game entering Friday. Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan Ellis lead the club with four tallies apiece.
As for Watson, his first of the postseason helped give his club a 2-1 lead.
The Russian superstar was still in D.C., on Friday, attending Verizon Center to show support for the Washington Wizards as they tangled with the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
