Some of the greatest to ever play in the NHL will be enshrined in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame this year.
Teemu Selanne, Joe Sakic, and Saku Koivu were announced as part of the 2017 class on Tuesday, and joining them will be Uwe Krupp, American 1998 Olympic gold medalist Angela Ruggiero, and builder Dieter Kalt.
A six-time Olympian, Selanne's a Finnish legend. His career began in incredible fashion with the Winnipeg Jets, when he scored 76 goals as a rookie. He finished with 684 goals and 1,457 pionts in NHL 1,451 games. He won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.
Sakic scored 625 goals and recorded 1,641 points in 1,378 regular-season NHL games. He was a monster in the playoffs, scoring 84 goals in 172 postseason games, winning two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche. He represented Canada on numerous occasions internationally, and is a card-carrying member of the Triple Gold Club.
Koivu was part of Finland's first gold-medal-winning team at the world championships in 1995, after winning a bronze at the 1994 Olympics. He captained the Montreal Canadiens for 10 years, and finished his NHL career with 832 points in 1,124 games.
The class will be honored and inducted on May 21 in Cologne, Germany, on the final day of the 2017 World Championship.
Brad Marchand believes in the power of a hockey family.
In an interview with ESPN's Joe McDonald, the Boston Bruins forward opened up about who he is away from the rink, and said when a professional hockey player does come out as gay, he'll be accepted by his teammates, "no question."
"Guys would accept that," Marchand told McDonald. "We're a team in the (dressing) room and a family. It doesn't matter what different beliefs guys have, or where they come from, or whatever the case may be. Guys would accept it."
The NHL in recent years has been spreading a message of inclusivity, partnering with the "You Can Play Project" in showing that the game is an accepting place, for anyone and everyone.
"Again, in the room we're a family," Marchand said. "That's the way it is on a hockey team, and that's the way it will always be."
Marchand's been vocal about his support for the LGBT community, and takes pride in it.
"I have friends who are in gay relationships, and I don't think it's right for people to be against that," he said.
Nobody expected the youthful Maple Leafs to be in playoff position through 41 games. Buffalo Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma didn't. But he's well aware Toronto's a bit ahead when it comes to the two rebuilding franchises.
"You can hear the excitement across the border with where they're at," Bylsma said Tuesday, according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox, ahead of the second meeting between the clubs and first featuring Jack Eichel.
It's hard not to be impressed by the Maple Leafs, led by first overall pick Auston Matthews.
"He looks so much older out there," Ryan O'Reilly - who watched Matthews' exploits at the Centennial Classic - said of the 19-year-old. "So calm in the plays he's making."
Eichel missed Buffalo's first game against Toronto due to a high ankle sprain, and Matthews is looking forward to playing against one of his close friends in the Sabres' franchise player.
"He's a great guy," Matthews said. "He's been someone I've been able to lean on, especially last year during my draft year, going through similar things. He's definitely been a nice sounding board for myself."
All pleasantries will be put aside Tuesday.
"I'm happy to see him have success and look forward to playing against him," Eichel said of Matthews. "The teams don't really like each other."
Jack Capuano has taken the fall, but the New York Islanders are Garth Snow's mess.
And the general manager wasn't shying away from that reality soon after announcing the firing of the head coach he had entrusted to guide the club for the past six years.
Snow: "I'm not hiding from the fact it starts with me."
The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Despite the fact the Islanders are coming off back-to-back 100-point seasons and a trip to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2016, Snow's reign has been nothing to write home about.
During Garth Snow's tenure as NYI GM, Islanders have the 4th worst record in the NHL
Snow has been on the job since 2006, with four playoff appearances and one series win in the past 10 seasons. So far in 2016-17, the Islanders have plummeted to the basement of the Eastern Conference, with Capuano paying the price and Doug Weight assuming the coaching duties for the time being.
To be fair, Snow inherited quite a mess, but he hasn't exactly taken the world by storm either. Here's a quick look at why.
Draft misses
Snow has been called upon to make the first overall pick at the NHL Draft on on occasion, selecting John Tavares, who was as sure a thing as any GM can hope for. Apart from that, however, his track record has been spotty at best.
Let's set aside the last two years, allowing time for prospects to develop. From 2010-14, the Islanders had four top-five picks, and only Ryan Strome (2011), who was hardly favorite of Capuano's, is with the team.
Griffin Reinhart (fourth overall in 2012) was traded to Edmonton for a pair of picks in 2015, one of which was used to scoop Mathew Barzal, which could be a big win. But Michael Dal Colle (fifth in 2014) has yet to make his NHL debut, and Nino Niederreiter (fifth in 2010) was traded to Minnesota for Cal Clutterbuck, of all people.
Snow has found some roster players in later rounds, namely Travis Hamonic, Anders Lee, and Casey Cizikas, but the picks with the supposed highest probabilities of success have not panned out, and the Islanders are paying for it.
Asset mismanagement
Few envisioned a scenario wherein the Islanders would sustain last season's success by allowing homegrown talents and key cogs like Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen to leave as unrestricted free agents while adding Andrew Ladd to a seven-year, $38.5-million contract.
Beyond that, Snow's recent decisions to hand fairly lenghy contract extensions to role players like Cizikas and Clutterbuck were somewhat baffling, and starting this season with three goalies on the roster and failing to capitalize on the trade market can also be seen as a misstep.
All this while holding onto Tavares at a ridiculously team-friendly cap hit and running the risk of alienating the face of the franchise in the process.
If Snow can't convince Tavares to sign a contract extension on July 1, then doubt will only linger as to whether the GM will be able to keep the star center from moving on to greener pastures as an unrestricted free agent in 2018..
That the Islanders have fallen off - or failed to take off, rather - to the point where that's a legitimate possibility is unnaceptable, and falls squarely on the shoulders of the GM.
Capuano is the scapegoat for now, but Snow might not be too far behind.
After the New York Islandersfired head coach Jack Capuano on Tuesday, general manager Garth Snow told media the decision stemmed from the fact that New York had no plans to bring Capuano - in the final season of his contract - back next season:
Snow: 'Organizationally, we knew Jack wasn't going to be back. We wanted to move forward now with our search for a new coach' #Isles
Snow also confirmed the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.
The Islanders currently sit last in the Eastern Conference with a 17-18-8 record. Assistant coach Doug Weight has been named the club's interim head coach.
Does Garth Snow think his job as #Isles GM is safe? "I don’t even worry about that."
"I don't know that Jack fell short of expectations," Snow added. "When you're a coach in this league, sometimes you're a victim of different circumstances."
Snow: "We need to turn this ship around and I really have a lot of confidence in our coaching staff and in our players." #Isles
Capuano - the league's fourth-longest tenured head coach at the time of his firing - had been behind the Islanders' bench since 2010-11, accumulating a 227-193-64 combined record.
Last season, he led the Islanders to their first playoff series win since 1993.
Jack Capuano is leaving Brooklyn, fired Tuesday by the New York Islanders after seven years and almost 500 regular-season games.
Former Isle Doug Weight is the new interim head coach, and general manager Garth Snow will immediately begin searching for his potential replacement. And it's possible he reaches out to a familiar name.
Gerard Gallant was fired by the Florida Panthers in late November and has a history with Snow and the Islanders, spending the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons behind New York's bench as an assistant coach. Snow took over GM duties in July 2006.
With Snow acknowledging the Islanders had no plans to retain Capuano, who was in the final season of his contract, it's entirely possible the team will fill its new vacancy sooner rather than later, since another team - the Vegas Golden Knights - are looking for a head coach, too.
Gallant's the biggest fish in the water. Vegas or Brooklyn?
It's never a good day when you're being compared to the Atlanta Thrashers.
If the Colorado Avalanche lose to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, it will mark their third straight defeat, and continue a historically bad season.
Just how gruesome have things gotten in Colorado?
With 27 points through 41 games, the Avs are on pace for 54 points - a number that would drop to 53 with a loss to the Blackhawks. Last year, the Toronto Maple Leafs finished in the NHL's basement while still managing to put up 69.
In fact, only 14 teams have finished with less than 60 points since the Thrashers joined the NHL in 1999-00 - a stretch of 16 full seasons.
Season
Team
Points
2014-15
Sabres
54
2014-15
Coyotes
56
2013-14
Sabres
52
2006-07
Flyers
56
2005-06
Blues
57
2005-06
Penguins
58
2003-04
Penguins
59
2003-04
Blackhawks
59
2003-04
Capitals
59
2001-02
Thrashers
54
2001-02
Blue Jackets
57
2000-01
Islanders
52
2000-01
Lightning
59
1999-00
Thrashers
39
Meanwhile, just three clubs - the 2013-14 Buffalo Sabres, the 2000-01 New York Islanders, and those same Thrashers - were worse than Colorado's current pace.
If life in Denver is bad now, how ugly will things get if Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog are wearing different colors following the March 1 trade deadline?
The New York Islanders have relieved head coach Jack Capuano of his duties and appointed Doug Weight as interim head coach, the team announced Tuesday.
Islanders general manager Garth Snow thanked Capuano for his contributions to the organization via the team's official website:
The New York Islanders would like to thank Jack for his tireless work throughout his seven seasons with the organization as Head Coach. His leadership guided the team to the playoffs in three of the past four years, which included two straight 100-point seasons. He is a great coach and an even better person. We wish him nothing but the best moving forward.
Appointed head coach after serving as the interim boss for most of the 2010-11 season, Capuano was the fourth-longest tenured head coach at the time of his dismissal Tuesday.
He won 227 games in seven seasons behind the Islanders' bench, second only to franchise legend Al Arbour.
Capuano led the Islanders to their first postseason series victory in 23 years last spring. However, the team has shown significant regression this season after consecutive 100-point campaigns, sitting last in the Eastern Conference with 17 wins from 42 games.
Capuano had these parting words:
It's an honor to have served this historic franchise and its passionate fans. I'd like to thank Garth and our ownership group for the opportunity to be the Head Coach of the Islanders. I'd also like to recognize our coaching staff, training staff and players for all of their hard work.
Snow explained in a conference call that Capuano, who had no term remaining on his deal, was not going to be extended an offer to remain at his post. He said the timing of the move will allow the Islanders to get a head start on their search for a replacement.
With new ownership, it's expected that the entire organization - including Snow - will come under scrutiny.
Hutton exited Vancouver's Jan. 6 win over the Calgary Flames after blocking a shot with his left hand. It wasn't believed to be serious, and Hutton actually warmed up the following night but has not been available since.
The 23-year-old has been relied upon heavily on Vancouver's back end. He logged more ice time than any player before suffering the injury, at over 20 minutes per night.
Vancouver also announced that Anton Rodin will undergo a period of rest after revealing his surgically repaired knee has not returned to "the same level of fitness." He's scheduled for an MRI.
