NHL

7:00 AM ET There is no “best and worst of 2020.” Every “worst” doesn’t quite do justice to how challenging this year was, in every way imaginable and previously unimaginable. Every “best” has a caveat anchored to it. What does that even look like? “Best: No one tested positive for COVID-19 while the NHL was

7:15 AM ET Pro Beach Hockey. Even the name itself is jarring, and the words don’t sound like they belong together. But for three seasons from 1998 to 2000, Pro Beach Hockey (PBH) was very real, and it was glorious. It has now been 20 years since the innovative inline hockey league last overtook Huntington

9:00 AM ET Considering the way the 2020-21 NHL season has gone — or more accurately hasn’t gone — we have to look at all prospects and young players like we’re grading on a curve. Many of these players have never gone this long between games in their entire playing careers. Some are closing in

7:45 AM ET The 2019-20 NHL season started on Oct. 2, 2019, and didn’t finish until Sept. 28, 2020, thanks to a pause of nearly five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. December is usually when we start to hear significant trade rumblings begin — Taylor Hall was traded on Dec. 16 of last season

9:21 AM ET The NHL and NHL Players’ Association have cleared their financial hurdles and are pushing forward with planning talks for the 2020-21 season. The sides are now aiming for a Jan. 13 start date, with either a 52- or 56-game schedule, sources confirmed to ESPN. The sides have communicated daily since Thursday, and

7:00 AM ET ESPN’s 64-player “Greatest NHL Name” tournament bracket dropped this week and garnered the expected reaction from hockey fans: passion, amusement, obsession and countless people vehemently protesting that Slater Koekkoek should have been a No. 1 seed. To recap, we took some of the greatest names to grace NHL ice — and Ukko-Pekka

8:50 AM ET The Stanley Cup is something that sets the National Hockey League apart from other sports. Not only because it’s the rare championship trophy from which you can drink, but also because the names of those who won it are etched along its rings, forged into hockey history. Oh, the names hockey has

10:47 AM ET The NHL is now aiming for a mid-January start date with a 52 or 56-game schedule, at best, sources confirmed to ESPN. That NHL’s initial target of Jan. 1 became unfeasible, because of necessary time for training camp — plus extra time promised to the seven teams that did not make this

7:00 AM ET Nearly 15 years ago, Erik Cole lay in a Pittsburgh hospital bed with two fractures in his vertebra, wondering about his future. Brooks Orpik had crushed him with an illegal check from behind in a game on March 4, 2006, an act for which the Penguins’ punishing defenseman was suspended three games.

5:09 PM ET Several NHL teams are exploring the possibility of playing some 2020-21 home games in outdoor venues and in front of fans if local COVID-19 restrictions on mass gatherings would allow for them, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday. The Boston Bruins confirmed they’re exploring home games at Fenway Park, which has hosted

9:25 AM ET The Angry Beaver has endured a lot. Perhaps that’s why it’s so angry. Billed as Seattle’s only hockey bar, the Angry Beaver has been operating in the Greenwood neighborhood since 2012. On busy nights, it looks like a hockey quilt: different fans in different jerseys, clustered together, watching their NHL teams, never

5:00 PM ET University of North Dakota players Jasper Weatherby and Jacob Bernard-Docker took a knee during the national anthem before their game against Miami (OH) on Wednesday, in what is believed to be the first such demonstration against racial injustice during an NCAA Division I men’s hockey game. The game was held in an

3:48 PM ET NHL commissioner Gary Bettman pushed back on the idea that owners have asked players to renegotiate the CBA that was signed five months ago, saying it is “unfortunate and inaccurate” how conversations with the NHLPA have been portrayed in the media. Speaking at the Sports Business Journal’s “Dealmakers in Sport” panel on

7:15 AM ET The halls of Yost Ice Arena should be bustling right now, with the Michigan Wolverines’ pep band blaring “The Victors” and the Children of Yost — the boisterous student section — heckling an opposing goaltender. But with no fans allowed in the building, one of college hockey’s most sacred cathedrals is empty.

3:17 PM ET The expansion Seattle Kraken haven’t established a timeline for naming their first head coach, citing uncertainty regarding the 2020-21 NHL season. “No real rush on the timeline there. We still don’t have an understanding of what the 2020-21 season is going to look like, and how many games that they’ll play,” general

9:26 AM ET Walk into any NHL locker room today and you’ll hear a cacophony of languages and accents from around the world. Rewind 50 years ago and the acoustics were much different. Take the 1970 Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins. Their roster had more Canadians than a season of “Letterkenny,” with U.K. native

5:35 PM ET Nick Wagoner Close ESPN Staff Writer Covered Rams for nine years for stlouisrams.com Previously covered University of Missouri football Member of Pro Football Writers of America Kyle Bonagura Close ESPN Staff Writer Covers the Pac-12. Joined ESPN in 2014. Attended Washington State University. SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For at least the next

Nov 25, 2020 So, a lot has changed since we last saw you in March. The Stanley Cup was decided in Edmonton, between two southern teams. The words Bubble, Qualification Round, and Kraken entered our vocabularies. There have also been some changes to our default points scoring system. We’ve made improvements to increase the value