Wickenheiser ends her playing career with four gold medals and one silver from the Winter Olympics, along with seven gold medals and six silvers from the Women's World Championships.
She also ranks first in goals (18) and points (51) in all-time Olympic scoring across all nations, as well as first in points (86) at the World Championships.
Wickenheiser spent time playing men's professional hockey in Sweden and Finland, and trained with NHL players in the offseason.
"Her record speaks for itself winning so many gold medals, but in years to come, the biggest memory will be how she inspired so many girls to play the game," said Bob Nicholson, CEO of Oilers Entertainment Group and former president of Hockey Canada.
John Tortorella has mellowed in recent years, but he can still channel his old self when the moment is right.
Such was the case Friday night, when the Columbus Blue Jackets head coach and former Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss opened his remarks ahead of Martin St. Louis' jersey retirement ceremony with a classic one-liner.
"I need to make something perfectly clear, and I want his kids to know this too," Tortorella said. "Marty was a pain in the ass to coach."
The quotable coach wasn't done there.
Tortorella: "He had a chip on his shoulder and all the way to his ankles."
Both men were critical cogs in the Lightning's Stanley Cup championship squad in 2004, and Tortorella coached St. Louis for seven of the forward's 13 seasons in Tampa Bay.
"He is a man who has been told 'no' so many times in his career," Tortorella added Friday night. "I just have so much respect for him in how he did it."
St. Louis' No. 26 will be the first number to ever be retired by the Lightning.
NHL rules dictate a player placed on IR must remain out of the lineup for seven days, meaning Josi will miss at least the next three games - Jan. 14 in Colorado, Jan. 17 in Vancouver, and Jan. 19 in Calgary.
Josi would be eligible to rejoin the team for the final two games of the road trip in Edmonton and Minnesota.
Blidh will not face supplemental discipline from the league, per Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.
The folks in Calgary won't forget June 5, 2004, and neither will the folks in Tampa Bay, or Martin St. Louis.
The undersized St. Louis kept the Lightning alive that night in Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, scoring the double-overtime winner to force the series back to Florida.
Two nights later, St. Louis and the Lightning were Stanley Cup champions.
To the rafters
On Friday night, St. Louis, countless members of the Lightning organization, and Bolts fans across the land will recall that hot night in June while St. Louis has his number retired, becoming the first Lightning player bestowed with the honor.
The good times began Thursday, when St. Louis took part in a ceremonial faceoff before Tampa Bay beat Buffalo.
St. Louis is a Lightning legend. Not only was that the biggest goal of his career, it is arguably the biggest goal in Lightning franchise history. Without it, Tampa Bay doesn't play for the Cup. Without it, Dave Andreychuk maybe never wins a Cup.
No. 26 belongs up high, and never again on a Lightning jersey. It's Marty's. His name is littered throughout the Lightning record book. He's second to Vincent Lecavalier in games played (972) and goals (365), and is the franchise's all-time leader in assists (588), game-winning goals (64), and points (953).
St. Louis wore a Flames jersey, and a New York Rangers jersey, but he'll always be a member of the Lightning. Once and for all, Friday evening.
And at 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, he was never supposed to be anything at all. What a career.
The Los Angeles Kings will pay homage to their heritage when they don their 1995 throwbacks during the pregame warmup Saturday prior to facing off against the Winnipeg Jets.
Colloquially known as the "Burger King jersey", the Kings donned these threads - complete with a purple-bearded king wearing a golden crown - during the 1995-96 season, when the team boasted the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Kelly Hrudey, among other Los Angeles greats.
Following that season, the alternate jersey was quickly stuffed to the back of the closet as the Kings returned to their traditional black and white scheme for the next two seasons. A purple, black, and silver look was introduced in 1998-99.
Despite what your natural inclination may lead you to believe, there wasn't a proud papa in the seats when Max Domi traded fists with Calgary Flames fourth-line forward Garnet Hathaway in December.
"I didn't have to say too much to Max. He knows," Tie Domi told Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "You learn from experiences and try to take a positive out of it. It's early in his career.
"It's OK to play with an edge, but fighting isn't part of the game."
That is, not a part of his son's game.
"I don't like it. I did enough fighting. I did it the most," he added. "So I did enough for our family and many more. He'll just take the positive learning experience out of it. He's just got to realize that he can't put himself in that situation."
The consequence, this time, was a broken hand suffered in the punch-up.
Max has already missed more than a month after having surgery to repair the damage.
"On the Fly," theScore's NHL roundtable series, is looking to the second half in its latest installment. Below are four players who are going to have big winters.
Patrice Bergeron
Justin Cuthbert: Stuck on single-digit goal and assist totals, and on track for a career-worst season statistically, you have to believe a star like Patrice Bergeron is about to bust out.
GP
G
A
P
5-on-5 P
PPP
SH%
TOI
42
8
9
17
12
5
5.1
19:18
That's not because he's "due," per se, but because he's been dominant.
Bergeron's line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak has tilted the ice more effectively than any regular unit. They're up around 64 percent possession, and creating more shot attempts than any other trio.
As a result, Marchand and Pastrnak are on track for 30-goal, 60-plus-point seasons. But for whatever reason, and aside from his lowly 5.1 shooting percentage, Bergeron's production has lagged behind.
For now.
Ben Bishop
Cory Wilkins: You can't win without goaltending and Ben Bishop will play a big role down the stretch for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With his recent injury woes behind him, look for Bishop to return as the clutch netminder who has 22 postseason wins over the past two years.
Among the goaltenders who appeared in at least 10 playoff games last spring, Bishop's .939 save percentage came second to only Braden Holtby - the lone netminder to finish ahead of Bishop in Vezina voting.
Bishop has struggled through the first half of this season, with just 10 wins in 23 games. Despite his average play and the constant trade chatter, Bishop has still outperformed the younger Andrei Vasilevskiy and remains the top option in Tampa Bay's crease.
Goalie
GP
5-on-5 SV%
High-Danger SV%
SH SV%
SV%
Bishop
23
.9217
.7879
.850
.908
Vasilevskiy
23
.9050
.8000
.889
.904
A year ago, the St. Louis Blues - a Stanley Cup contender like the Lightning - held onto their pending free agents at the trade deadline, most notably captain David Backes. The Blues' top priority was to win. With Tampa Bay in a Cup window of its own, we could see a similar non-move, where Bishop is considered more valuable as a current part of the team than as a piece in a deal focused on the future.
Nathan MacKinnon
Ian McLaren: If the Colorado Avalanche are intent on building around youth and speed, there are few better cornerstones than Nathan MacKinnon.
The thing is, the 21-year-old has gotten off to a slow start in this, his fourth NHL season. Through 39 games, he had recorded only 10 goals, putting him on pace for 21 - or three fewer than the career high he set as a rookie.
GP
G
A
P
5-on-5 P
PPP
SH%
TOI
40
11
17
28
19
7
8.2
20:11
MacKinnon did score his 11th goal Thursday, marking the second straight game he found the back of the net.
With questions surrounding the long-term futures of Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene, Colorado appears set to become MacKinnon's team, and he's going to show why with a big second-half performance.
Filip Forsberg
Navin Vaswani: After back-to-back breakout seasons with 64 and 63 points, including a career-high 33 goals last season, Filip Forsberg's on pace for 20 markers and 31 assists. Respectable, sure, but guys named Forsberg are better than that.
Things are going to change in the second half, and let last season be a lesson to all of us:
Filip Forsberg has reached 10 goals. It takes 42 games. He had 11 in 42 last year, finished with 33.
Forsberg lives for the cold. After a five-point January 2016, Forsberg erupted, scoring 19 goals and 34 points in 32 games after the All-Star break. And he's going to do it again, because the Nashville Predators need him to.
GP
G
A
P
5-on-5 P
PPP
SH%
TOI
42
10
16
26
20
6
9.3
18:41
The Swede's doing it already, in fact. Forsberg has eight goals and two assists in his last 15 games - he's heating up.
Last season was Forsberg's best on the power play, too, as he scored eight times and added 15 assists. Nashville converted on 19.7 percent of its man-advantage opportunities in 2015-16, and is at 18.7 percent in 2016-17. In other words, Forsberg's power-play points are coming - and they better be. Four goals and two assists isn't cutting it.
When they do, Forsberg will be a 60-point player once more, and the Predators a playoff team again.
Rask has been indispensable for the Bruins, and is really the driving force behind the club's success through the first half of the season. He has a .926 save clip, five shutouts, and 21 of the Boston's 22 victories in 34 starts.
Shortly after dealing the organization's longest-tenured player to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Felix Girard, Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said he requested approval from the sandpapered forward first.
"After all the work he's put in for the Avalanche, I asked Cody what he wanted to do. I was going to treat him like basically he had a no-move (clause)," Sakic told Terry Frei of the Denver Post.
"I gave him the opportunity, I told him it was Nashville."
He added, "We moved him as, first of all, a favor to him and (to) give him an opportunity. And he welcomed it. I know it was probably a hard decision for him, but I think hockey-wise, where he is in his career, he wants a chance.
"This is all respect for Cody."
Of course, the move also benefits the Avalanche. It will give them a chance to evaluate forward Matt Nieto, who was picked up on waivers from the San Jose Sharks.
Colorado will also have 60 percent of McLeod's $1.33-million freed up on the payroll next season.
