Category Archives: Hockey News

Lundqvist to undergo open-heart surgery

Washington Capitals goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is scheduled for open-heart surgery, he revealed Monday.

Lundqvist will undergo an aortic valve replacement, as well as an aortic root and ascending aortic replacement.

Earlier in December, the 38-year-old announced he would not play the upcoming season due to a heart condition. Doctors advised him to sit out the campaign after weeks of tests.

The Capitals signed the veteran netminder to a one-year, $1.5-million contract on Oct. 9.

Lundqvist spent his first 15 seasons with the New York Rangers, who bought out the final year of his contract in late September.

He ranks sixth on the NHL's all-time goaltending wins list and holds franchise records in games played, victories, and shutouts.

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Canadiens sign Perry to 1-year, $750K deal

The Montreal Canadiens have inked forward Corey Perry to a one-year, $750,000 contract.

Perry, who was an unrestricted free agent, helped lead the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup Final last season.

The 35-year-old collected five goals and 16 assists over 57 regular-season games in 2019-20 before adding five markers and four helpers in 27 playoff contests.

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Top 200 fantasy hockey player rankings

Welcome to theScore's 2020-21 fantasy hockey rankings.

Yahoo uses hits in standard head-to-head leagues and blocks in standard points leagues, so we're adopting both. We've also excluded plus/minus for our rankings since it's an outdated and generally unpredictable statistic. Here's what we're factoring in.

Skaters Goalies
G Wins
A GAA
PPP SV%
SOG SO
Hits
Blocks

These rankings are based on 12-team leagues and factor in positional value. The value of certain positions can change depending on the size of the league. Positional eligibility is courtesy of Yahoo.

Rank Player Pos. Team
1 Nathan MacKinnon C COL
2 Connor McDavid C EDM
3 Alex Ovechkin LW WSH
4 Auston Matthews C TOR
5 Brady Tkachuk LW OTT
6 Jack Eichel C BUF
7 Leon Draisaitl C/LW EDM
8 Andrei Svechnikov LW/RW CAR
9 Matthew Tkachuk LW/RW CGY
10 Patrik Laine LW/RW WPG
11 Roman Josi D NSH
12 Max Pacioretty LW VGK
13 John Carlson D WSH
14 Mika Zibanejad C NYR
15 Blake Wheeler C/RW WPG
16 Steven Stamkos LW/RW TB
17 Mitch Marner RW TOR
18 Victor Hedman D TB
19 J.T. Miller LW/RW VAN
20 Elias Pettersson C VAN
21 Brent Burns D SJ
22 Artemi Panarin LW NYR
23 Evander Kane LW SJ
24 Mikko Rantanen RW COL
25 Dougie Hamilton D CAR
26 Taylor Hall LW BUF
27 Mark Stone RW VGK
28 Andrei Vasilevskiy G TB
29 Patrick Kane RW CHI
30 Brad Marchand LW BOS
31 David Pastrnak RW BOS
32 Timo Meier LW/RW SJ
33 Sidney Crosby C PIT
34 Alex Pietrangelo D VGK
35 Cale Makar D COL
36 Brendan Gallagher RW MTL
37 Evgeni Malkin C PIT
38 Sebastian Aho C CAR
39 John Tavares C TOR
40 Brayden Schenn C/RW STL
41 Jonathan Huberdeau LW FLA
42 Jake Guentzel LW/RW PIT
43 Gabriel Landeskog C/LW COL
44 Neal Pionk D WPG
45 Elias Lindholm CGY C/RW
46 Tom Wilson RW WSH
47 Mark Scheifele C WPG
48 Robin Lehner G VGK
49 Kris Letang D PIT
50 Ryan Pulock D NYI
51 Shea Theodore D VGK
52 Filip Forsberg LW NSH
53 Aleksander Barkov C FLA
54 Travis Konecny RW PHI
55 Jonathan Marchessault C/LW VGK
56 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins C/LW EDM
57 Jordan Binnington G STL
58 Philipp Grubauer G COL
59 Kyle Connor LW WPG
60 Morgan Rielly D TOR
61 Quinn Hughes D VAN
62 Seth Jones D CLB
63 Carter Hart G PHI
64 Anton Khudobin G DAL
65 Darcy Kuemper G ARI
66 Erik Karlsson D SJ
67 Shea Weber D MTL
68 Jacob Trouba D NYR
69 Patrice Bergeron C BOS
70 Jamie Benn C/LW DAL
71 Darnell Nurse D EDM
72 Ivan Provorov D PHI
73 Thomas Chabot D OTT
74 Rasmus Dahlin D BUF
75 Connor Hellebuyck G WPG
76 Frederik Andersen G TOR
77 Tuukka Rask G BOS
78 Miro Heiskanen D DAL
79 Rasmus Ristolainen D BUF
80 Teuvo Teravainen LW/RW CAR
81 Brayden Point C TB
82 Johnny Gaudreau LW CGY
83 Bo Horvat C VAN
84 Bryan Rust LW/RW PIT
85 Carey Price G MTL
86 Pavel Francouz G COL
87 Charlie McAvoy D BOS
88 Chris Kreider LW NYR
89 Kevin Fiala LW/RW MIN
90 John Klingberg D DAL
91 Pierre-Luc Dubois C CLB
92 Brock Boeser RW VAN
93 Mathew Barzal C NYI
94 Dylan Larkin C DET
95 Jeff Petry D MTL
96 Ilya Samsonov G WSH
97 Jacob Markstrom G CGY
98 David Perron LW/RW STL
99 Torey Krug D STL
100 Tony DeAngelo D NYR
101 Anders Lee LW NYI
102 William Nylander RW TOR
103 Jaden Schwartz LW STL
104 Mikhail Sergachev D TB
105 Semyon Varlamov G NYI
106 Ilya Sorokin G NYI
107 Mike Hoffman LW/RW STL
108 Anze Kopitar C LA
109 Nazem Kadri C COL
110 Alex DeBrincat LW/RW CHI
111 Kailer Yamamoto RW EDM
112 Claude Giroux C/LW PHI
113 Sean Couturier C PHI
114 Mark Giordano D CGY
115 Matt Dumba D MIN
116 Drew Doughty D LA
117 Zach Werenski D CLB
118 Sean Monahan C CGY
119 Ryan Ellis D NSH
120 Igor Shesterkin G NYR
121 Elvis Merzlikins G CLB
122 Cam Talbot G MIN
123 Ryan Graves D COL
124 Rickard Rakell LW/RW ANA
125 Ondrej Palat LW TB
126 Blake Coleman LW/RW TB
127 Kyle Palmieri RW NJ
128 Sergei Bobrovsky G FLA
129 Petr Mrazek G CAR
130 Linus Ullmark G BUF
131 Vincent Trocheck C CAR
132 Nikolaj Ehlers LW/RW WPG
133 Patric Hornqvist RW FLA
134 Josh Anderson RW MTL
135 Alexis Lafreniere LW NYR
136 Tyson Barrie D EDM
137 Juuse Saros G NSH
138 Antti Raanta G ARI
139 Reilly Smith RW VGK
140 Evgeny Kuznetsov C WSH
141 Nick Suzuki C/RW MTL
142 Tomas Hertl C/LW SJ
143 Tomas Tatar LW/RW MTL
144 Nick Foligno LW/RW CLB
145 Ryan Strome C/RW NYR
146 Sam Reinhart C/RW BUF
147 Oliver Ekman-Larsson D ARI
148 Mikko Koskinen G EDM
149 Marc-Andre Fleury G VGK
150 Jaroslav Halak G BOS
151 Joonas Korpisalo G CLB
152 Alex Edler D VAN
153 Ryan Suter D MIN
154 Tyler Seguin C/RW DAL
155 Jakub Vrana LW WSH
156 TJ Oshie RW WSH
157 Tanner Pearson LW VAN
158 Thatcher Demko G VAN
159 Braden Holtby G VAN
160 Ryan Getzlaf C ANA
161 Jakub Voracek RW PHI
162 Cam Atkinson RW CLB
163 Adam Fox D NYR
164 Keith Yandle D FLA
165 Filip Hronek D DET
166 Evgenii Dadonov LW/RW OTT
167 Tyler Bertuzzi LW/RW DET
168 Aaron Ekblad D FLA
169 Tyler Toffoli LW/RW MTL
170 Boone Jenner C/LW CLB
171 Victor Olofsson LW/RW BUF
172 Anthony Mantha LW/RW DET
173 Oliver Bjorkstrand RW CLB
174 P.K. Subban D NJ
175 Logan Couture C SJ
176 Clayton Keller LW/RW ARI
177 Dominik Kubalik LW/RW CHI
178 Nicklas Backstrom C WSH
179 Dustin Brown RW LA
180 Jake Virtanen RW VAN
181 Kirill Kaprizov LW MIN
182 Matt Murray G OTT
183 MacKenzie Blackwood G NJ
184 Colton Parayko D STL
185 Jake Muzzin D TOR
186 Nico Hischier C NJ
187 Matt Duchene C NSH
188 Jonathan Toews C CHI
189 Jared Spurgeon D MIN
190 Jean-Gabriel Pageau C NYI
191 Brock Nelson C NYI
192 Ryan O'Reilly C STL
193 Brandon Tanev LW/RW PIT
194 Pavel Buchnevich RW NYR
195 Max Domi C/LW CLB
196 Jack Hughes C/LW NJ
197 Anthony Cirelli C TB
198 William Karlsson C VGK
199 James Reimer G CAR
200 Quinton Byfield C LA

Josh Wegman has been theScore's resident fantasy hockey expert since 2015. Find him on Twitter @JoshWegman_.

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Hoffman joining Blues on PTO

Mike Hoffman, the top free-agent goal-scorer still available, is joining the St. Louis Blues on a professional tryout, the team announced Sunday.

Hoffman will join the club for training camp beginning Jan. 3, but since he hasn't signed an official contract yet, is still eligible to ink a new deal with any team.

More to come.

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Senators sign No. 3 pick Stuetzle to entry-level contract

The Ottawa Senators have put pen to paper with forward Tim Stuetzle on a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced Sunday.

Ottawa selected the German phenom third overall at the 2020 NHL Draft.

"Tim possesses an exceptional blend of both speed and skill and a playmaking ability that our fans are going to enjoy watching for several years to come," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said. "He's a dynamic forward who we expect to become a key piece of our roster as we continue trending toward icing an eventual elite-level team."

Stuetzle is currently captaining Germany at the world juniors. He entered Sunday with a goal and an assist over two games in the tournament.

The 18-year-old is capable of playing center, but he's expected to start his NHL career on the wing.

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The Naughty List: Who lost us the most money this year?

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.

Have you clicked submit on a bet and knew it was a loser? You're not alone.

That’s why we created our naughty list, featuring the teams and players who we faded with extreme stubbornness - or trusted to a fault - in 2020.

Here’s who had no regard for our bankrolls this past year:

Bryson DeChambeau

Gregory Shamus / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Before the PGA Tour shut down for three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bryson DeChambeau was playing great. When things resumed and saw the 27-year-old had put on 20-plus pounds of muscle to become the longest hitter on Tour by far, you knew a win was close.

So it was a matter of figuring out when that title was coming, and we completely struck out. We whiffed at the Travelers Championship, which was the week prior to his Rocket Mortgage Classic victory when he was the +600 favorite. Then, when he showed up at the U.S. Open in poor form, we thought there's no way his errant driving would hold up with thick, penalizing rough at Winged Foot, so we faded him in the outright market and targeted him in multiple head-to-head bets. Once again, we were wrong on DeChambeau as he muscled his way toward a six-shot major victory.

- Eric Patterson

Josh Allen

Ralph Freso / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Being from Toronto, Bills games are a yearly must. Orchard Park is a staple of tailgate folklore, and there’s nothing like washing down a day of debauchery at the famous Anchor Bar. It’s a shame I’ll never be going back.

I figured I’d seen enough of Josh Allen through two years to know what he is. I guess I was wrong?

I faded the Bills early against the Rams and went back to the well a week later against the Raiders; 0-2. Then I backed them against the Titans because, well, COVID-19; 42-16 Tennessee. That was my breaking point. "They're overvalued,” I wrote in every single one of my articles.

Narrator: They weren’t.

It only got worst from there. I've gone approximately 0-19 betting Bills games this year, between spreads, totals, and player props. Tell Stefon Diggs I have his over, and he’s putting up 16 yards. It’s wild.

- Alex Moretto

Justin Jefferson

Handout / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Everything was getting postponed or canceled in early spring, so the NFL Draft was the one really big event I was excited to bet. You can only wager on marble races for so long in the dead of March with no college basketball.

Anything is fair game when it comes to draft rumors, but I heard from two reliable sources that Justin Jefferson wasn't getting past the Eagles at No. 21. On draft day, I remember buying this cool poster board and markers and categorizing all my props, hinged on a Brinks truck full of money on Jefferson under 21.5.

Jefferson was still on the board when the Eagles picked. They chose Jalen Reagor.

That poster board was in the garbage by the time the Vikings picked at 22.

- Alex Kolodziej

Los Angeles Dodgers

Kelly Gavin / Major League Baseball / Getty

I know what you're thinking, how can the World Series champions be the team that cost me the most money, in a shortened season, no less? I bet on almost every team not named the Dodgers to win the World Series - and I watched in horror as every one of my hard-earned tickets went up in flames.

Entering the postseason, I had action on over half of the playoff field, including six of the eight teams in the American League. I'm not just talking about lazy midseason values, either: Rays 18-1, Athletics 25-1, White Sox 33-1, Padres 40-1. I could have blindly thrown a rock at the playoff bracket and hit a stellar preseason bet, which had me feeling pretty good in late September.

Do you know who didn't care about any of that? The Dodgers, who even let Tampa Bay hang around for six games in the World Series just to twist the knife around a little bit. The series was never that close, nor were my chances of winning any money on my binder full of MLB futures. Thanks for that, Corey Seager.

- C Jackson Cowart

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Brian Bahr / Getty Images Sport / Getty

About four or five times a week, I sit and wonder if Mike Gundy has it out for me. I couldn't predict an Oklahoma State outcome if you revealed it.

In Week 1, I bet the Cowboys over against Tulsa; 16-7 final. They could have played twice and it wouldn't have hit. A week later, I called them out. They proceeded to win their next three by a combined 57 points.

Three games later, I recommended betting them against Oklahoma. They lost by 28. In the season finale, I suggested playing them as 12-point favorites against Texas Tech. They gave up 44 points and nearly lost outright.

Is that good?

- Alex Kolodziej

Oregon Ducks

Steve Dykes / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Betting long shots in the preseason is supposed to be the quintessential example of low risk, high reward. It's supposed to be fun - all opportunity, no downside. That only applies if you know your limits.

I clearly didn't when it came to Oregon, trading at 80-1 to win the 2021 College Football Playoff last January. Remember, this was a different time when teams played all the games on their schedule and the Pac-12 had a chance of making the playoff (OK, maybe that wasn't true then, either). I emptied my account on the Ducks, who profiled as a top-15 team led by Penei Sewell and an elite defense.

Then the world changed, and so did my once-savvy futures play. Sewell opted out, Oregon's defense allowed an abysmal 28 points per game, and the Ducks posted their worst regular-season record since 2017. The conference even tried to hook me up by sending a two-loss Oregon team to the Pac-12 title game, but nothing can erase the stink of losing to Oregon State and Cal - regardless of the preseason price.

- C Jackson Cowart

Vancouver Canucks

Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images Sport / Getty

It wouldn’t surprise me if a few Granville Street bars have my face taped to dartboards. I definitely don’t care to search my name on Canucks message boards and imagine I need to wait at least a few years before I revisit the city. My in-laws live there, so maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

To be clear, I had a good two months betting the NHL playoffs, but it could have been great if not for the Canucks. I was on the Wild in the play-in round – series and game-by-game bets – and all over Vegas to curb stomp them in the conference semis. I almost took out a second mortgage to bet the Knights -1.5 games in the series. Naturally, it went the distance.

As if the money I lost betting against the Canucks wasn’t bad enough, their fans destroyed me on every social media platform. Right, William? Buddy, too. I'll spare you the DMs - kids might be reading this. Canucks fans aren't a very forgiving bunch.

- Alex Moretto

Who's on your naughty list? This is a safe space and an important exercise in healing. Share in the comments below.

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Coyotes ship Stepan to Senators for 2nd-round pick

The Arizona Coyotes traded center Derek Stepan to the Ottawa Senators for a 2021 second-round pick, the team announced Saturday.

The 30-year-old pivot is in the final season of his contract, which carries a $6.5-million cap hit, per CapFriendly. He's only owed $2 million in base salary, though.

Stepan was once a steady offensive producer. In his first eight NHL seasons, he averaged 57 points per 82 games, but his production tailed off in recent years as he tallied 35 points in 2018-19 and 28 points in 70 contests last season.

However, the veteran may very well step in and serve as Ottawa's No. 1 center. The team's other options down the middle are Colin White, Chris Tierney, Artem Anisimov, Logan Brown, Josh Norris, and Nick Paul.

The second-round pick heading to Arizona was originally owned by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Senators still have their own second-round pick in 2021 and the San Jose Sharks' second-rounder.

The Coyotes were up against the cap before this trade, but they project to have $8.3 million in flexibility once Marian Hossa is placed on long-term injured reserve.

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