Leo Komarov's international career may have ended Thursday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs forward spoke to the media following his club's 3-0 loss to Russia at the World Cup and admitted that it could have been his final game for his homeland.
Leo Komarov might have played his last game for Team Finland: "At the moment I feel that I'm done."
Komarov has been a mainstay for the national team for some time. He's suited up in 57 games at the World Championship, six at the Olympics, 13 at the world juniors, and, most recently, three at the World Cup.
Finland will certainly miss his chippy and physical demeanor if the 29-year-old does indeed retire from international play.
Fans yearning to know what the Las Vegas club will call itself will have to wait a little longer.
The final name, color scheme, and logo will not be unveiled until early November, majority owner Bill Foley said, according to Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"We had a webinar (Thursday) with Adidas and the NHL and we're still tweaking the logo and the use of the colors," Foley said. "It probably means we're going to have to push back the big announcement because it's going to take time to get everything printed on the shirts and hats. The jerseys will take a little longer to produce."
Those decisions should be completed next week where they will then seek final approval from the league.
As for the delay, Foley also insists that another contributing factor is the location of the unveiling.
"The other issue is Toshiba Plaza," Foley said. "We want to do the unveiling there. But there are very few open dates in October because the arena is being used most of the month. It’s a little more open in November."
The wait, however, will apparently be worth it.
"We're getting real close," Foley said. "But we want it to be perfect."
While he may be this generation's goal king, Alex Ovechkin doesn't believe he'll end his hall-of-fame career at the top of the all-time list.
The leader, of course, is Wayne Gretzky, who found the net a ridiculous 894 times.
Ovechkin, a six-time "Rocket" Richard winner, currently sits at 525 career tallies, and at 31, "The Great 8" claims he has no chance at catching "The Great One."
"I don't think somebody will beat this record," Ovechkin told Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. "In this hockey right now, in this league, I think it's impossible.
"I have to have six seasons with 50 goals, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to skate in six seasons," he said jokingly.
Ovi is third among active players in goals, and sits 33rd on the all-time list - for now.
The 24-year-old reported to New Jersey Devils training camp Thursday, and was honest when asked about the trade that saw him leave the Edmonton Oilers, doubling down on critical comments he made in the summer.
"I would say the same things today," Hall said, according to The Record's Andrew Gross. "I did not step over the line. Just the way everything went down, I still hold a bitter resentment toward (the Oilers)."
Hall's looking forward to the change of scenery and excited about what he can accomplish with an underrated Devils squad.
General manager Ray Shero is hoping Hall uses the feelings he has for Edmonton as motivation.
"He's one of the many talented players in Edmonton that haven't made the playoffs. Hopefully, he'll do that."
Hall had 65 points last season, which would have led New Jersey in scoring. He's signed through 2019-20 at a $6-million cap hit.
"To be our leading scorer," Poile said. "To have really good offensive numbers. To be a player who can be used in more situations than last year. I've got really high expectations for him."
No pressure, Ryan.
The center finished with 60 points last season.
Team
GP
G
A
P
Blue Jackets
42
8
26
34
Predators
38
6
20
26
He added four goals and four assists in 14 playoff games, as Nashville lost in the second round.
First things first: Johansen's going to have to score more. He got more comfortable as time went on, after the trade, and he's the club's No. 1 center. A full season playing with Filip Forsberg should help.
While he was at first surprised by Poile's comments, he's taking a positive approach.
"... Why not?" Johansen asked. "It's motivating."
Johansen will earn $4 million this season and will be a restricted free agent on July 1, 2017.
The 30-year-old continues to suffer from a neck injury and in turn will not suit up this season, the team announced.
Though he won't play, Smid is not making the decision to retire, according to Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald, leaving the possibility of being put on long-term injured reserve.
Smid appeared in a total of 53 games over the past two seasons. He originally had surgery on his neck in January 2015, and was limited to just 22 games last year following a nine-month layoff.
Evander Kane spent his summer focusing on hockey and only hockey, he told media on the first day of Buffalo Sabres training camp.
Kane was sued in July by a woman who alleges the 25-year-old assaulted her in the hotel room where he lives. He countered with a lawsuit of his own, claiming the woman filed hers solely to harass him.
But the forward is keeping his sights solely on 2016-17.
"I'm just focused on this season and trying to have the best season of my career," he told Jon Vogl of The Buffalo news.
Kane said he hasn't heard from the NHL or discussed the case with Sabres management, Vogl added.
"These situations are what they are," he said. "They happen to athletes or people in a position such as myself. Those are things you have to deal with and kind of come with the territory. In saying that, you have to be a little more away and kind of put yourself on a higher pedestal than you maybe think you are."
In July, Kane was arrested and charged with harassment after he was in an altercation at a downtown Buffalo bar. He's been at the center of a number of off-ice issues that have had an impact on his career and reputation.
Sabres captain Brian Gionta gave his thoughts on Kane earlier Thursday.
"I would hope that he'd want to stay a little more low profile," he said, according to Sabres reporter Paul Hamilton.
The men in charge of assembling and guiding Team USA say the roster was built with Canada in mind.
Team USA was criticized for going with a mix of skill and physicality over a team that would have been composed completely of offensively gifted players.
General manager Dean Lombardi said Thursday that they used that strategy because they didn't feel they could match Canada's skill, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun.
Lombardi felt skill on skill, had he taken all the most skilled players, didn't match up with Canada. So he went for a different mix...
Lombardi echoed comments made Wednesday by David Backes, who said the U.S. might have been too focused on facing Canada in its second game rather than preparing adequately for Team Europe in the opener - a game the Americans lost 3-0.
Internally Lombardi feels maybe they had too much emphasis on beating Canada and overlooked Europe to some degree. He says that's on him
Head coach John Tortorella dismissed the notion Thursday that his team is "just a bunch of grinders," claiming it just didn't jell on the offensive end.
Tortorella elaborated on the U.S. approach to the tournament, admitting Canada was a primary focus.
"It's a situation where I still think, in our mind, we could not just skill our way through Canada," he said, according to LeBrun. "That's our first thought. I've been in situations against Canada, (and) this one's different because it happened so quickly.
"(We) watched them in games, turn up momentum, and change games. That's why we went to this with our team, to build identity and handle momentum swings. We failed."
Tortorella acknowledged this U.S. team doesn't have enough talent.
"We have the people who can change the momentum, we did not and that falls on us," he said. "But we don't have enough skill. ... I'm not downplaying, our thoughts were right at Canada. ... We could not out-skill them, and I have to be honest about that."
The United States fell 4-2 to Canada on Tuesday in a loss that eliminated them from semifinal contention.
The U.S. faces the Czech Republic on Thursday in the final game for both teams.
Kessel dropped that bomb Wednesday night after the U.S. was eliminated from the World Cup by Canada.
Tortorella said he likes Kessel, but called the tweet "self-serving."
"I wish Phil ... I just wish he didn't say anything because it makes him look bad," Tortorella said, according to CSN Chicago's Tracey Myers. "It's so easy to start chucking dirt when things go bad."
Tortorella added that the tweet reflects poorly on USA Hockey, which Kessel has represented. His sentiment was echoed by U.S. general manager Dean Lombardi.
"Part of that will be in my book down the road, but let me say this," Lombardi said, told ESPN's Pierre LeBrun. "If you're talking about Justin Abdelkader, Blake Wheeler, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Kesler, David Backes, I'll take those guys any day, any day.
"You're going to have to play against those guys in a little while," Lombardi added about Kessel, "but that's basically the trade-off. Those guys have big-time heart and when I talk about caring, they'd be the nucleus of the caring and they compete and they can play for me any day."
Captain Joe Pavelski said U.S. hockey needs to stick together right now.
"(Kessel's tweet), I don't think it was about us," Pavelski said, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. "He wanted to be a part of it and couldn't help ... but it's tough to see. Everyone who said something has been part of this before. Every one of them has gone through what we are going through ... you think they would understand."