After playing last season with the Nashville Predators, the St. Louis Bluesrevealed Jackman will hold a press conference Tuesday to announce his retirement after 14 NHL seasons, 13 of them in the Gateway City.
The 35-year-old was drafted 17th overall by the Blues in 1999, and went on to play 876 games in his career, recording 186 points, and 1102 penalty minutes.
theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
The New Jersey Devils surprised many last season thanks to goalie Cory Schneider, who helped the team stay in the playoff race for much of the season. Here are three questions facing the Devils in 2016-17:
Does it all depend on Schneider?
There's no doubt Schneider was the Devils' most valuable player last season, posting a 27-25-1 record and a .924 save percentage in 58 games. Most impressive is that he posted a winning record despite the Devils finishing dead last in goals for, as they found the back of the net just 184 times.
The Devils have revamped their offensive arsenal for the coming season, knowing they can't always rely on Schneider to cover the gaps.
The 30-year-old has seized his opportunity in New Jersey, and, despite missing last year's postseason by a dozen points, the Devils could once again surprise should the goaltender duplicate his performance.
Is Hall enough of an offensive boost?
The acquisition of Taylor Hall brings much-needed offense to the Devils, who averaged 2.24 goals per game last season.
Hall tallied 65 points last season with the Edmonton Oilers, which tops the Devils' biggest point producer, Kyle Palmieri (57). Beyond that, only two players cracked the 40-point plateau: Travis Zajac (42) and Adam Henrique (50). Furthermore, only four Devils reached double-digit goals, namely Palmieri, Henrique, Zajac, and veteran winger Mike Cammalleri, who finished with 14.
The 24-year-old Hall immediately becomes the Devils' top offensive threat, but the question will be whether he can once again reach 80 points, as he did in 2013-14. The top pick in the 2010 draft will be a key cog in pushing the Devils toward playoff contention.
Can the defensive core hold up?
The Devils paid a steep price to add Hall, trading away top defender Adam Larsson. As much as Hall adds to the offensive ranks, Larsson's departure leaves a significant hole on the blue line - one that wasn't addressed over the offseason.
The Devils will look to veteran defenseman Andy Greene to lead the way. Greene paced all Devils defensemen last season, averaging 22:57 in ice time, while Damon Severson was the top point producer from the back end, scoring 21 points. Blue-liners Jon Merrill, John Moore, and free-agent addition Ben Lovejoy, who won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, will battle for spots in the team's top-four defensive unit.
The Devils' bottom pairing could see a regular rotation, but young defenders Brandon Gormley and Seth Helgeson are both likely candidates. The team also added to its depth in signing veteran defenseman Kyle Quincey to a one-year deal. Quincey, 31, played 47 games with Detroit last season, recording 11 points.
The NHL's Atlantic Division offers it all, from rising stars, to Cup contenders, to veteran squads looking to make one final push. Here are three key players who will have a big impact in the Atlantic this season:
Carey Price
The Montreal Canadiens learned the hard way what a season looks like without the league's best goaltender, Carey Price.
Finishing 2014-15 with 110 points and a division banner, the team ran to the second round of the playoffs before falling to Tampa Bay. The performance earned Price a host of accolades, including the Hart Trophy, recognizing the league's MVP, and the Vezina Trophy, honoring the NHL's top goalie.
The start of the next campaign didn't miss a beat, with the Habs kicking off the year with nine straight wins and a 18-4-3 record by the end of November. Disaster then struck when an injured knee forced Price to miss the remainder of the season. The Canadiens went 28-36-2 in his absence, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Price is now healthy and ready, as evidenced by his performance at the World Cup, in which he won all five games and allowed just seven goals during the best-on-best tournament. Price remains the Canadiens' most important piece in returning the team to the postseason.
Steven Stamkos
With his health issues and contract extension behind him, Steven Stamkos can focus on the path ahead. And it's a bright one, with Stanley Cup aspirations in Tampa Bay. The Lightning have advanced to the third round or better in the last two seasons, so expectations are once again high this year.
Missing all but one game of last year's postseason, Stamkos has returned to the ice with a clean bill of health. Averaging 40 goals over the past two seasons, and now healthy, there is no reason Stamkos cannot return to his former 50-plus goal production. Not to mention the talent that surrounds him in Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, and Jonathan Drouin, who will certainly help pile up the points.
Keith Yandle
The Florida Panthers reached new heights last season, finishing atop the Atlantic with a franchise-best 103-point season, as the team qualified for the postseason for just the second time since 2000. More is expected this year, given further development of the team's young talent, particularly forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, plus star defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
Still, the Panthers were not perfect last season, most notably on the man advantage, as they finished 23rd in the league with a pedestrian 16.9 percent success rate. That number fell to 13.3 in the playoffs, fifth worst of any playoff competitor. The Panthers, led by new general manager Tom Rowe, keenly recognized this deficiency and made a point to bring in Keith Yandle. The Panthers acquired Yandle's rights and signed him to a seven-year deal prior to free agency.
A power play specialist, Yandle is a left-handed shot who will likely partner with Ekblad on the man advantage. The 30-year-old spent the past season with the New York Rangers, finishing with 47 points, 22 of which came on the power play.
The Los Angeles Kings forward received a game misconduct during Sunday's preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers after catching defenseman Brandon Davidson with a shot to the head, and could potentially face more discipline.
Davidson left the game for observation and was unable to return.
The incident will be reviewed by the NHL's Department of Player Safety, with a hearing likely in Pearson's future.
The hit also nullified what would have been a pretty nice goal on Connor McDavid's part.
Pearson was ejected during the second period of Sunday night's preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers after a hit on Brandon Davidson.
The two collided in the neutral zone as Davidson attempted to play the puck, with Pearson's shoulder appearing to catch the defenseman in the head. After the hit, Davidson was taken to the locker room for observation and was later declared out for the game.
James Wisniewski will have to look for NHL employment elsewhere.
The veteran defenseman has been released from a professional tryout by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Wisniewski missed all but 47 seconds of 2015-16 after suffering a knee injury on opening night as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. His contract was bought out early in the offseason, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Tampa Bay was working with limited cap space and with restricted free-agent Nikita Kucherov yet to sign, they would have very little room to maneuver a deal for Wisniewski.
The Calgary Flames' regular season begins in less than two weeks, and their leading scorer doesn't have a contract.
Johnny Gaudreau is a restricted free agent, and negotiations have been stalled since the summer, but the 23-year-old's agent, Lewis Gross, put any speculation of a trade to bed Sunday.
However, Gross didn't shy away from saying the negotiations have dragged on long enough.
"Our last conversation with the Flames was on Sept. 9," Gross said. "We were told we'd get a call in two days. It hasn't happened. Next Friday will be a month."
Gaudreau said prior to joining Team North America at the World Cup that he wouldn't negotiate during the tournament, which has long since passed.
Gaudreau notched 78 points in 79 games last season. His linemate, Sean Monahan was also a restricted free agent this summer, but signed a seven-year extension in August.
