9:43 AM ET Everything you’re about to read can change in a cough. That’s the reality of the 2021 NHL season, which is being played inside (mostly) empty arenas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The league released the names of 27 players who began the season with a “COVID Protocol Related Absence,” and that’s not including

7:15 AM ET The 2021 NHL rookie class is really fun — but also really complicated. The introduction of taxi squads and delayed starts to Canadian junior hockey has given NHL teams more roster flexibility than they often have at this stage of the season. And the rollout of the flat salary cap has placed

Jan 13, 2021 The NHL dropped the puck on its abridged, 56-game season on Wednesday, and one thing became clear: The next 115 nights — which will cram in 863 games — are going to be doozies. Opening night brought us a little bit of everything: a banner raising without fans, a highly dramatic puck

6:47 PM ET Philadelphia Flyers center Nolan Patrick scored a goal on Wednesday in the first period of his first NHL game in 652 days. The No. 2 pick of the 2017 draft missed all of last season as he dealt with a debilitating migraine disorder and hadn’t played since April 2, 2019. Patrick’s goal,

7:00 AM ET The 2021 NHL season is here! After awarding the Stanley Cup in September following a most unusual 2019-20 season, we’re back on the ice again. Four new divisions, 56-game schedules and, most importantly, 116 consecutive nights of NHL games, beginning Wednesday. For our first week of power rankings, we offer a reason

7:21 PM ET The NHL announced that 27 players had confirmed positive COVID-19 tests during training camps, which concluded Tuesday. Of those players, 17 were members of the Dallas Stars, who shut down their training facilities last Friday after an outbreak. Dallas’ first three games — at Florida on Thursday and Friday and at Tampa

6:04 PM ET Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild have signed forward Marcus Foligno to a three-year, $9.3 million contract extension on Tuesday, as he comes off the best season of his NHL career. The deal takes a potential free agent off the market next summer and keeps Foligno in the fold

10:38 AM ET The Boston Bruins will retire Willie O’Ree’s No. 22 and raise it into the rafters this season, honoring him for being the league’s first Black player. The Bruins will celebrate O’Ree in a ceremony on Feb. 18, before a game against the New Jersey Devils. O’Ree, who debuted for the Bruins 63

10:20 PM ET ESPN News Services The Dallas Stars will resume practicing on Tuesday, four days after six players and two staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Dallas had its first three games — at Florida on Thursday and Friday, and at Tampa Bay on Sunday — postponed. The defending Western Conference champions are now

6:05 PM ET NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league and its clubs will lose billions of dollars to stage an abridged 2021 season largely without fans, but he felt it was critical to play through the pandemic anyway. “Let me make something really clear: We’re coming back to play this season because we think