Humboldt Broncos assistant general manager Jason Neville is leaving the organization.

Neville announced the move in a statement Saturday night, writing that "this was not an easy decision, but I know it is the right choice for me." He concluded by saying that, although there is nothing specific lined up, he plans to stay in the hockey world and will always have reverence for Humboldt. "I do know I will always be a Bronco," he wrote.

Both the Broncos' official Twitter account and general manager/head coach Nathan Oystrick offered thoughts on Neville's decision as well.

Neville was instrumental in assembling the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team for the upcoming season following the tragic bus crash in April that left 16 dead and 13 injured.

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Humboldt Broncos assistant general manager Jason Neville is leaving the organization.

Neville announced the move in a statement Saturday night, writing that "this was not an easy decision, but I know it is the right choice for me." He concluded by saying that, although there is nothing specific lined up, he plans to stay in the hockey world and will always have reverence for Humboldt. "I do know I will always be a Bronco," he wrote.

Both the Broncos' official Twitter account and general manager/head coach Nathan Oystrick offered thoughts on Neville's decision as well.

Neville was instrumental in assembling the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team for the upcoming season following the tragic bus crash in April that left 16 dead and 13 injured.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

John Tavares acknowledges that he deserves blame for the New York Islanders' shortcomings during his tenure, and wishes the team had accomplished more, but he's at peace with his contributions.

The Toronto Maple Leafs forward expressed as much when asked if he was surprised by Islanders president of hockey operations Lou Lamoriello's comments from earlier this week in which the former Leafs GM said there was "no aftermath" in the wake of Tavares' departure, and that it would be different if the Isles had won championships.

"In the nine years (I was there) we made the playoffs three times and got past the first round once, so we obviously fell short of where we wanted to get to and we didn't have as much consistent success as we (would have liked)," Tavares said to reporters, including TSN's Mark Masters, on Saturday.

"Being the captain there as long as I was, I should shoulder a lot of that responsibility in not doing a good enough job and leading that team," he added. "I wish I could have done a better job, but I know I gave it everything I had, and looking back, I have no regrets in the way I performed ... I just obviously wish we'd had more success and done a better job."

Tavares departed the Islanders ranking fifth on the club's all-time points list and seventh all time in goals, despite sitting outside the top 10 in games played.

He signed a seven-year, $77-million contract with the Maple Leafs as a free agent on July 1.

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Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs won't be setting a new bar to sign restricted free agent William Nylander.

With day two of Leafs training camp underway, the Swedish forward is yet to sign a new contract, and the status of negotiations between him and the club is largely up in the air. Dubas, however, shed a bit of light on the situation Saturday, saying that Nylander's new deal will certainly be within the confines of the Leafs' salary cap restrictions.

"If we want to sustain success here we can't be setting any marketplace records," Dubas said, according to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star.

"Sometimes players might not like it very much, but I'm sure they'd rather win than be on a team that can't."

Shortly after signing free agent John Tavares to a seven-year, $77 million deal, Dubas was asked how he plans to manage the next contracts of Toronto's group of young stars. He responded by saying "we can, and we will" retain Nylander, Mitch Marner, and Auston Matthews long-term.

Nylander has posted back-to-back 61-point efforts in the first two full seasons of his career. His value has been compared to that of Nikolaj Ehlers of the Winnipeg Jets and David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins.

Both men signed big-money extensions in September 2017, with the former agreeing to a seven-year, $42-million deal, and the latter inking a six-year, $40-million pact.

The Maple Leafs have an estimated $13.3 million in available cap space for 2018-19, according to Cap Friendly.

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With the NHL preseason kicking off in China on Saturday, commissioner Gary Bettman believes regular-season games in the Pacific are the next logical step.

The Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames are set to participate in two exhibition contests overseas with an eye toward growing the popularity of the game in the Chinese market. Last season, the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings were chosen to do the same as the debut participants of the multi-year deal signed by the NHL in 2017.

Regular-season games outside North America have occurred in the past, though never in China. This season, the NHL Global Series features an Edmonton Oilers-New Jersey Devils game in Sweden in October, and two games between the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers in Finland in early November.

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The Washington Capitals are off the hook on the subject of Brooks Orpik.

Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan told Stephen Whyno of The Associated Press on Friday that the NHL put the club through a thorough questioning process and determined no rules were violated.

Bill Daly, the league's deputy commissioner, confirmed MacLellan's assessment that the Capitals did nothing wrong by including Orpik in the trade that sent goaltender Philipp Grubauer to the Colorado Avalanche, then re-signing the veteran defenseman at a lower cap hit after the Avalanche bought him out.

Orpik's original cap hit was $5.5 million, with a base salary of $4.5 million, in what was to be the final year of the five-year, $27.5-million contract he signed with Washington on July 1, 2014.

The Avalanche bought out that final year after acquiring him in the Grubauer deal at the draft, and the Capitals re-signed him in late July on a one-year pact worth $1 million, plus up to $500,000 in bonuses ($250,000 for 20 games played and another $250,000 if he appears in 40 contests, according to CapFriendly).

Orpik is owed $1.5 million in each of the next two seasons as a result of the buyout.

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The Vegas Golden Knights and restricted free-agent defenseman Shea Theodore remain far apart on a new contract, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Without a deal in place, the 23-year-old hasn't yet reported to the club's training camp.

Theodore joined the Golden Knights via the expansion draft from the Anaheim Ducks, and emerged as an important piece of the blue line while the team marched to a Western Conference title.

In 61 games last season, Theodore chipped in 29 points and averaged more than 20 minutes per night. He's expected to be a key member of the defense once again, especially with Nate Schmidt facing a 20-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use.

Theodore is the lone player on Vegas' ledger who's currently without a contract, and the club has roughly $9.4 million in available cap space to work with, per Cap Friendly.

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Jake Dotchin's training camp with the Tampa Bay Lightning is over before it even began.

The Bolts placed the defenseman on waivers Thursday to terminate his contract, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. The team is calling it a "material breach of contract," Friedman adds.

In 83 career games with the Lightning, Dotchin picked up just three goals and 22 points. It may not take him long to find a new home because of his age (24), size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds), and right-handedness.

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