The Ottawa Senators' front office could use a lesson or two in interviewing.

Just over a week after team owner Eugene Melnyk gave an awkward interview with defenseman Mark Borowiecki, Senators general manager Pierre Dorion spoke to Sportsnet's Dave Amber and Elliotte Friedman during the first intermission of the preseason contest between the Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Things appeared to be going well until Amber asked Dorion what he's optimistic about this season, causing the general manager to pause before answering.

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John Tavares will take the ice for his first preseason game as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators, and he expects to have a bit of a pit in his stomach ahead of game time.

"Any time I play, there are always jitters. That's a feeling you have as a hockey player from the time you're a kid until now," Tavares said, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton. "The first game of the year is always that same kind of butterfly excitement and getting ready to be in that mindset again, that mentality you get into. When you haven't played in a while, it's very fresh."

Tavares is expected to slot alongside Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman on Tuesday night in what may be a preview of what's to come when the regular season kicks off.

The centerman is excited to be playing games with a more competitive edge after taking part in team scrimmages recently.

"It's nice to get back into that competitiveness and a lot of those little things that you need to get prepared," he said. "No matter what, when you play you want to win. So no matter when it is you go out there, play hard and carry over a lot of things you're working on and preaching to keep building ourselves up to the regular season."

Tavares will dress in his first regular-season game with the Maple Leafs when they open the season on Oct. 3 against the Montreal Canadiens.

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Hockey Twitter was abuzz Tuesday upon learning Jagermeister will be the new "official shot" of the NHL.

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The Vegas Golden Knights continue to break the mold, even as they prepare for their second season in the NHL.

William Hill U.S. announced Tuesday it will form the first-ever partnership between a sports book and an NHL team by collaborating with the Golden Knights.

It is a multi-year partnership that will involve engaging with fans of legal betting age through various promotional platforms, including a TV-visible dasherboard, in-arena signage, league-wide odds displayed on the T-Mobile Arena video board during intermissions, and mentions of the sports book on Golden Knights line changes.

William Hill was founded in the United Kingdom, where it still generates most of its revenue, in 1934. It operates over 100 race and sports books in Nevada and is the state's leading mobile sports betting app.

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Montreal Canadiens forward Nicolas Deslauriers is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on a facial fracture, the team announced Tuesday.

Deslauriers suffered the injury in Monday's preseason tilt against the New Jersey Devils in an altercation with forward Brandon Baddock.

In 58 appearances with the Canadiens last season, Deslauriers recorded 10 goals and four assists.

The Canadiens acquired Deslauriers from the Buffalo Sabres last October in exchange for defenseman Zach Redmond.

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Talk about leading by example.

Veteran forward and three-time Stanley Cup championship Justin Williams, who was named Carolina Hurricanes captain on Sept. 13, is offering to reach into his own pocket for fans who plan to add the captain's "C" to his jersey.

"Leadership comes naturally and comes from years of watching other great leaders," Williams said following the captaincy announcement. "Certainly, my current coach (Rod Brind'Amour) is one of them. I'll be taking little things from his leadership and instilling them in mine. It's something I'm very humbled by and very proud of and something I don't take lightly."

The offer runs through the Canes' Oct. 4 home opener against the New York Islanders.

Williams was named Hurricanes captain after teammates Justin Faulk and Jordan Staal split the duties last season.

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Despite falling three wins short of the Stanley Cup in their inaugural season, fan interest in the Vegas Golden Knights hasn't cooled down.

For the second year running, Stubhub has listed the Golden Knights as the NHL's most in-demand club, outselling the runner-up Toronto Maple Leafs by 27 percent.

The avid fan interest is a repeat of last season, when the Golden Knights played in front of more than 18,000 nightly at T-Mobile Arena.

This year, the team's first preseason game against the Arizona Coyotes took in an above-capacity crowd, according to ESPN's Emily Kaplan. For the coming campaign, the Golden Knights are also involved in four of Stubhub's top 10 in-demand games.

Vegas' home opener comes Oct. 4 against the Philadelphia Flyers.

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Nearly a year after the Vadim Shipachyov situation played out, George McPhee says there was a silver lining to the whole fiasco.

The Vegas Golden Knights general manager told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun that as difficult as it was to lose a key free-agent signing, the situation sent a strong message to the team.

"That there’s no entitlement," McPhee said. “We had a coach from another team who mentioned that he thought that that was one of the best moves we made initially. That we committed to that player, he came here, wasn’t committed to us, wasn’t ready to play, and ownership supported a hard decision to send a $9-million contract to the minors. But the message was clear to everyone that it doesn’t matter what your status is, if you’re to check the ego at the door and compete hard, and be a team guy, then there’s a great opportunity here. If not, we don’t have time for it."

Shipachyov retired from the NHL and signed with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL last November after the Golden Knights suspended the forward for leaving their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, following his demotion in late October.

The 31-year-old, who was 30 at the time, had signed a two-year, $9-million contract with the Golden Knights in May 2017.

Vegas went on to become the most successful expansion team in NHL history, going all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

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