NHL

7:00 AM ET Normalcy is a relative term for NHL arenas this season. Of its 32 buildings, the league expects 31 of them to begin the season at full capacity, with the Vancouver Canucks the current outliers. (They’re restricted to 50% capacity by provincial health orders.) Just like “normal,” fans will be filling NHL arenas

8:12 PM ET Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nashville assistant coach Todd Richards is recovering from a heart attack. The Predators announced Monday that Richards, a former Minnesota and Columbus head coach, had the attack Friday. Richards has been released from the hospital and is resting at home in Nashville. “He is expected to make

12:32 PM ET Philadelphia Flyers coach Alain Vigneault pushed back against accusations made by Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner that appeared to implicate Vigneault and the Flyers in the medical malpractice of players. Lehner posted a series of tweets on Saturday about the treatment of players by NHL teams in an effort to bring

1:45 AM ET Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner accused NHL teams of medical malpractice, including offering benzodiazepines and Ambien to players without prescriptions. Lehner made the allegations on Twitter Saturday in an effort, he told ESPN, to call attention to the surgery stalemate between his former teammate Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres. The

1:45 PM ET Associated Press ARLINGTON, Va. — Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom said Saturday he’s taking his hip injury rehab slowly and doesn’t know when he’ll be able to play. Backstrom has not skated during training camp and seems like a long shot to play in the season opener Oct. 13 against the New

10:02 PM ET Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning said Friday that defenseman Travis Hamonic isn’t opting out of the NHL season, but has yet to join the team. Benning said in a statement on Twitter that the 31-year-old player “remains at home, dealing with some personal matters” and

6:11 PM ET The Vancouver Canucks have signed young star center Elias Pettersson and defenseman Quinn Hughes, getting both restricted free agents in just under two weeks before the NHL season begins, a source told ESPN on Friday, confirming multiple reports. Pettersson, 22, agreed to a three-year deal with an average annual value of $7.35

3:39 PM ET The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that forward Zac Rinaldo, who has chosen not to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, will remain under contract but not play for them or their AHL affiliate to start the season. Rinaldo, 31, signed a one-year, $750,000 free-agent contract with the Jackets in the offseason. But the team

8:25 AM ET As the 2021-22 NHL season opens, the Arizona Coyotes are the only team with plans to fully relax their game-day dress code for players, according to an ESPN survey of all 32 teams. The NHL is the only one among the four North American major men’s professional sports league with a strict

7:00 AM ET Aesthetics matter in hockey. The player with the wooliest thicket of playoff beard competes with the might of King Leonidas of Sparta. The team that gets the spiffy state-of-the-art arena stands just a bit taller in its skates. I think the New York Islanders are a playoff team this season not because

9:12 AM ET The Ukrainian Hockey League has suspended HC Kremenchuk forward Andrei Deniskin for a minimum of three games for making a racist gesture at defenseman Jalen Smereck of HC Donbass in a game Sunday. The suspension includes an additional 10 games that Deniskin can avoid serving if he pays a fine. In the

4:10 PM ET NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood said that he has chosen not to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, making him potentially unavailable for some of his team’s games this season. The 24-year-old starter said he’s “not currently” vaccinated, leaving open the possibility that he could still get the vaccine. He

12:50 PM ET Defenseman Jalen Smereck of HC Donbass said he won’t play another game in the Ukrainian Hockey League until Kremenchuk forward Andrei Deniskin is “removed from the league” for making a racist gesture to him on Sunday. In the second period of their game, Deniskin shouted at Smereck, who is Black, and then

7:00 AM ET Ranking the NHL’s goaltending tandems used to be a predictable process: Pencil in the Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars and whoever the Tampa Bay Lightning have playing with Andrei Vasilevskiy at the top, and then figure out the rest. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for the rest of the NHL,

9:11 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Kevin Lankinen practiced Monday after he was removed from the COVID-19 protocol list. Lankinen had been held out since Friday. His absence doesn’t necessarily mean he tested positive for COVID-19. General manager Stan Bowman said last week that the team was 100% vaccinated. The 26-year-old

12:45 AM ET Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. — The concourses of the Spokane Arena were jammed. The merchandise lines snaked through the crowds, causing bottlenecks as fans filed in for their first glimpse of the Seattle Kraken. There seems to be little doubt about the popularity and reach of the NHL’s newest franchise, even when

4:40 PM ET HC Kremenchuk forward Andrei Deniskin is facing disciplinary action from the Ukrainian Hockey League after making a racist gesture toward American-born defenseman Jalen Smereck of HC Donbass, who is Black. In the second period of their game on Sunday, Deniskin shouted at Smereck and then pantomimed unpeeling a banana and eating it.

8:10 PM ET ESPN News Services ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues signed longtime president of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong to a five-year contract extension Saturday. Armstrong, 57, was named the organization’s 11th general manager after the 2009-10 season after joining the Blues as assistant general manager in 2008. “When I