Top 5 New York Rangers Moments of the 2020s
As the New York Rangers begin their 100th season in the league, they are looking to create more memorable moments. Here are the five best moments of the 2020s so…
Tag Archives: Hockey
Flyers, Jett Luchanko Set to Benefit from Massive Rule Change
The Philadelphia Flyers and top center prospect Jett Luchanko are about to benefit massively from this new AHL rule change, reported to take effect starting this season.
On Tuesday, PuckPedia reported that AHL loans for 19-year-old players, a rule passed in the new CBA with the NHL, will take effect in the 2025-26 season, allowing the Flyers to send Luchanko to the AHL to further develop.
Update: PuckPedia posted the following correction to their X account: " The 19 year old AHL change is not yet in effect. It requires agreement with CHL, & the NHL/NHLPA have agreed to push to get this agreement & change done for this season. However, those negotiations have not started yet & no guarantee it's effective 25-26."
Ordinarily, Luchanko, who turned 19 just over a week ago, would have needed to either make the Flyers' NHL roster outright to play pro, or spend another season in the CHL playing for the OHL Guelph Storm.
And, as we know, the Storm aren't the greatest team in the OHL, and they traded away most of their auxiliary talent last season.
This report has to be a sigh of relief for the Flyers, who saw what their top center prospect can do at the pro level in a small sample size a few months ago.
Luchanko picked up three assists in nine regular season games with the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season, then added six more assists in seven postseason contests.
The 2024 first-round pick hasn't scored a pro goal between 16 total AHL games and four NHL games with the Flyers, but shooting and scoring instincts were a generally agreed-upon criticism of Luchanko before he was even selected last June.
Flyers Roster Battles Become Clearer with Porter Martone Taking NCAA RoutePorter Martone's commitment to the NCAA's Michigan State means one less winger is battling for a roster spot with the Philadelphia Flyers this fall.
Considering he only just turned 19 and has succeeded playing against men, there's no reason to believe Luchanko can't develop and build upon the last 12 months in an environment more conducive to growth with the Phantoms.
The 19-year-old's supporting cast in Allentown could shrink slightly after training camp, provided teammates like Alex Bump and Nikita Grebenkin make the NHL roster and stick with the Flyers.
Either way, though, players like Bump, Grebenkin, Devin Kaplan, Samu Tuomaala, Karsen Dorwart, Massimo Rizzo, Denver Barkey, and Alexis Gendron are marked improvements on what Luchanko had in Guelph the last two years.
What the Flyers' prized center prospect achieves next will be exciting to watch.
Devils’ Toughest Opponents in 2025-26
The New Jersey Devils enter the 2025-26 season with high expectations, but the path to the Stanley Cup will be anything but easy. Their schedule is amongst the league’s toughest,…
"I Hope He Will Be Proud" Former Red Wings Forward Honors Sergei Fedorov
The news that fans of the Detroit Red Wings had been waiting for was finally delivered last month.
Former Red Wings Hall of Fame forward Sergei Fedorov, one of the greatest players in team history who was an integral part of three Stanley Cup wins, will finally have his iconic No. 91 retired by the club and hung from the rafters at Little Caesars Arena.
A Red Wing at heart. pic.twitter.com/TqYBHQWi5b
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 19, 2025
The announcement of the impending honor, which was met with overwhelming approval, is also being acknowledged by a former member of the Red Wings who played a lone season in Hockeytown.
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
Daniel Sprong, who suited up for the Red Wings in the 2023-24 NHL campaign and now plays in the KHL for CSKA Moscow, recently disclosed that he chose jersey No. 91 specifically in honor of Fedorov.
“He is one of the best players. He is special, that is why I chose number 91," Sprong explained via Sport-Express.
“It is a great honor for me to play under this number for CSKA. I hope that he will be proud of me.”
Not only did Sprong briefly don the Winged Wheel as Fedorov did for so many years, but he also now plays for the same club Fedorov skated for prior to his extremely risky defection to the United States in 1991.
"Fedorov is strong in his style of play, he could do everything on the ice," Sprong said. "He could gather three people around him and outplay them.”
“My Heart Beat Faster”: Sergei Fedorov Recaps Finding Out Of Jersey Retirement NewsThe iconic No. 91 jersey of former Detroit Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov will soon be taking its rightful place in the rafters of Little Caesars Arena, and will be displayed alongside the eight previously retired numbers that include his teammates Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom.
Sprong signed with the Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent during the 2023 offseason, and scored 18 goals with 25 assists in 76 games, the second-highest goal output of his NHL career.
🚨 Daniel Sprong opens the scoring for CSKA in the 2nd period on the powerplay. #KHLpreseasonpic.twitter.com/lb8k2GUNCH
— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) August 28, 2025
In Fedorov's honor, CSKA Moscow recently retired his number at CSKA Arena. In Detroit, a special ceremony will be held at Little Caesars Arena on Jan. 12 before a game against the Carolina Hurricanes, a matchup carrying some irony.
It was Carolina who signed Fedorov to the infamous offer sheet in early 1998, which Detroit matched, ultimately paying him $28 million for just three months of play.
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites.
Patrick Kane's Last Chance At Hockey Glory May Come With Team USA, Not The Red Wings
No matter how dominant they may be, veteran NHL players rarely, if ever, get to end their playing careers on a perfect note.
Father Time always catches up, but sometimes, they're just not in a circumstance befitting of the elite place they’ve carved out for themselves.
You can see that with Detroit Red Wings right winger Patrick Kane. At 36, Kane can still be a solid contributor, posting 21 goals and 59 points last season. But Kane signed only a one-year, $3-million contract for this coming year on a middling Red Wings team that will compete hard just to try to make the playoffs. If Kane sticks with the Wings for the rest of his career, it's unlikely he'll have a chance of winning the Stanley Cup for the fourth time.
So Kane’s last chance at hockey glory could come on the international stage, if he makes the U.S. team at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Kane doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. His career totals of 492 goals and 1,343 points in 1,302 regular-season games, on top of his three Cup wins with the Chicago Blackhawks, make him a lock to be a Hockey Hall of Famer when he hangs up his skates.
But given that the Red Wings will be picked by many to miss the playoffs this coming season, you can see how Kane needs to make the most of his status as a U.S. icon and help lead Team America to a gold medal win at the 2026 Games in Milan, Italy.
That said, Kane isn’t guaranteed to make the American roster. Indeed, in this writer’s projected U.S. roster for the Olympics, Kane was not on the team.
“The one thing that's kind of missing is a gold in best-on-best, right?” Kane told NHL.com last week at the Americans' Olympic orientation camp. “It would be fun to have that opportunity.”
U.S. GM Bill Guerin has a very deep talent pool from which to draft a roster, and he may choose to go with a youth movement and select young wingers like Utah’s Clayton Keller, Minnesota’s Matt Boldy, Buffalo’s Tage Thompson and Montreal’s Cole Caufield at right wing. So Kane will have all the motivation in the world to come out of the starting gate strongly this season and nudge one of those aforementioned young players out of a roster spot for the Olympics.
If Kane does make the U.S. roster, who’s to say he won’t have one more place in the sun and one final chapter he can hang his hat on as an all-time great?
The thing about Hall of Famers is that they can rise to the occasion, and Kane may have a couple of tricks still left up his sleeve. Getting to the top of the podium at the upcoming Winter Games would tie a lovely bow on his career, especially if Detroit fails to make the playoffs this year and for however long Kane remains there.
Kane’s experience as a proven winner and needle-mover might be something Guerin particularly values, especially as the U.S. tries to transition into a new era of young, up-and-comers. Kane no longer has to worry about being “The Man” at this stage in his career. So long as he can chip in some offense for the American team, he’ll be worth Guerin selecting him for the U.S. squad.
And if Kane does help America win a gold medal in Italy, it will underscore his status as one of the best and most decorated wingers the modern game has ever seen.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.
Rangers Need Will Borgen to Prove 2024-25 Was Not a Fluke
The New York Rangers made big changes on defense this offseason as they signed Vladislav Gavrikov to a seven-season contract and traded K’Andre Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange…
Flyers Lose Ian Laperriere to Division Rival
According to multiple reports, the Philadelphia Flyers have lost hockey ops advisor Ian Laperriere to the Metropolitan Division rival New York Islanders.
Laperriere, 51, joins the Islanders from the Flyers as a pro scout, leaving his new post of hockey operations advisor.
The longtime NHLer initially remained with the Flyers in this capacity on May 27 on the heels of his dismissal as the head coach of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. John Snowden has since replaced him as the head coach of the Phantoms.
Neither the Flyers nor the Islanders have publicly announced the news, though The Hockey News's own Stefen Rosner confirmed the initial report from Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff.
With the Islanders organization, Laperriere is reunited with former Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson, who was in charge of the power play in Philadelphia.
Thompson took the reins as the head coach of the AHL Bridgeport Islanders this offseason after being let go by the Flyers.
Should The Panthers Prioritize Winning The Atlantic Division?
The Florida Panthers have dominated the NHL playoffs in the past three seasons, winning the Stanley Cup twice and reaching the finals another.
They've consistently levelled up their game when the post-season rolls around, but surprisingly, they haven't dominated the regular season like you might have expected.
Dating back to 2022-23, when they first appeared in the Stanley Cup finals, the Panthers were the eighth seed when the regular season concluded, upsetting the record-setting Boston Bruins in the first round before defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes. Upon reaching the final round, the Panthers were severely beaten up and succumbed to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
The following season, the Panthers carried that momentum into the regular season, beating the Bruins by one point to claim the Atlantic Division crown. In the playoffs, they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bruins, the New York Rangers and the Edmonton Oilers to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup.
The most recent campaign witnessed the Panthers repeat as Stanley Cup winners, but the regular season wasn't always smooth sailing. They finished third in the Atlantic Division, recording 98 points and finishing just a point ahead of the Ottawa Senators. The Panthers were without home ice advantage in each series, but they took care of each opponent nonetheless.
The Panthers' post-season success hasn't been defined by regular season success, but that doesn't necessarily indicate that the Panthers should throw in the towel during the regular season and not care about playoff seeding. Home ice advantage can be an important factor in the playoffs due to the momentum from the crowd, as well as last change.
The Panthers have played a lot of hockey in the past three seasons, far more than any other team in the NHL. Fatigue is destined to catch up to the Panthers in some sort of fashion, and ensuring easier matchups earlier in the playoffs, as well as home ice advantage for line matching benefits, could be what helps the Panthers three-peat.
Winning the division is no small feat. The Maple Leafs and the Lightning will be gunning for the crown, and it's possible the Senators and the Montreal Canadiens could be surprise challengers. Without Matthew Tkachuk for a large part of the season, the Panthers will be missing out on plenty of offense, but their depth should allow them to compete with those teams.
Islanders Hire Ian Laperriére As Pro Scout
The New York Islanders have hired Ian Laperriére as a pro scout, industry sources have confirmd with The Hockey News, first reported by The Daily Faceoff's Anthony DiMarco.
Laperriere, 51, had spent the last four seasons as head coach of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the AHL affiliate for the Philadelphia Flyers. Prior to that, he served as an assistant on the Flyers bench for nine seasons.
I can confirm @ADiMarco25's reporting that #Isles have hired former NHLer Ian Laperriere as a pro scout.
— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) September 2, 2025
He spent the last 4 seasons as the head coach of the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He previously spent 9 seasons as an assistant with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Rocky Thompson, who the Islanders hired as head coach for their AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, had previously spend the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Flyers, so he knows Laperriere well.
Back in May, the Flyers hired Laperrié as an advisor to their hockey operations department after being let go by Lehigh, but has, clearly, since decided to take on more of a hands-on job with the Islanders.
Drafted in the seventh round (No. 158) in 1992 by the St. Louis Blues, Laperriere played 16 years in the NHL with five different teams. He played 1,083 regular season cames, recording 121 goals and 215 assists for 336 points, while racking up 1,956 penalty minutes.
With Mathieu Darche now the general manager of the Islanders, there have been a ton of changes, with the addition of Laperriere being the latest.
Laperriere will report to Ryan Bowness, who was hired this summer as the Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel, who will oversee the entirey of the pro scouting department.
Ken Morrow, who has served as #Isles Director of Pro Scouting since 1992, will remain with the team in the pro scouting department.
— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) June 17, 2025
Ryan Bowness will run the pro scouting staff.
More on Bowness's roles & what they entail @TheElmontershttps://t.co/8NzFAI9FjQ
We have confirmed that Islanders legend Ken Morrow, who has been a pro scout with the Islanders since 1992, will remain as a scout.
Stay updated with the most interesting Islanders stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.
Wilf Paiement: The Maple Leafs’ Forgotten 40-Goal-Scorer
In a city that remembers its hockey heroes like family, Wilf Paiement is something of a forgotten name. For a brief window in the early ’80s, Paiement was one of…