The NHL will make protected and available players lists for the upcoming expansion draft public as they are distributed to each NHL club, the league announced on Wednesday.
The date the lists are released is still to be determined, but it's likely to be on June 18, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.
For NHL fans it's a decision that is surely welcomed, but one that was certainly not easy for the league to come to, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun.
As he notes, the NHL had held many internal discussions on the issue and while they originally were against the notion of unveiling the lists, that idea was met with a hard push by fellow league staff members.
As per NHL expansion rules, teams must have their list of protected players submitted to the league by 5:00 P.M. ET on Saturday, June 17, while the Vegas Golden Knights must have their selections into the league by June 21.
The Calgary Flames rookie did so in a big way nearly two weeks ago - delivering an elbow to the Los Angeles Kings defender to earn a two-game suspension. Then on Tuesday, the 19-year-old was vocal ahead of a pivotal Wednesday matchup, stating he thought Doughty's assertion to the media - that Tkachuk is a dirty player - was out of character.
"I expected more from him, honestly, than to go right to the media and start complaining after a loss," Tkachuk said, according to Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun. "But he’s a good player. He’s a good enough player where he doesn’t have to worry about any of that stuff. He’s a skilled guy and everything like that, and he’s won a couple of Cups.
"He’s still a real good player, so I don’t think he’ll be too worried about it tomorrow."
As if both clubs didn't have enough animosity ahead of Wednesday's contest, there are also big playoff implications at stake.
For the Flames, if they defeat the Kings in any fashion, they'll punch their ticket to the playoffs, while a loss will almost all but seal the Kings' fate.
It's no surprise the postseason will be Tkachuk's main focus Wednesday.
"(Doughty) is a good player, so I don’t think his focus will be too much on me," Tkachuk said. "My focus isn’t on him. My focus is on the playoffs."
The Florida Panthers are on the outside of the playoff picture, and a finish on the postseason sidelines could lead to big changes, and big moves on the trade market, according to general manager and interim coach Tom Rowe.
"At the end of the day, contracts are great. We did it for salary cap reasons, but it doesn't mean guys are going to retire (with the Panthers) if they keep playing like they did," Rowe told Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel.
As for the team's core, the Panthers have several players signed to long-term deals, moves made to bring down the annual average of each contract. Seven Panthers are signed through the next five seasons:
Player
Age
Cap Hit
Expires
Aleksander Barkov
21
$5.9M
2022
Vincent Trocheck
23
$4.75M
2022
Reilly Smith
25
$5M
2022
Jonathan Huberdeau
23
$5.9M
2023
Keith Yandle
30
$6.35M
2023
Aaron Ekblad
21
$7.5M
2025
Roberto Luongo
37
$4.53M
2022
Florida is not yet mathematically eliminated from the postseason, but sits nine points back of the final playoff seed in the East with just six games remaining.
It's been a tough month for the Panthers, who have gone 4-9-1 through March after a dominant February when they climbed to third in the Atlantic.
Entering the season, the hope was to build on last year's playoff appearance, but that hasn't happened. The Panthers lost in the opening round to the New York Islanders last spring, their first playoff trip since 2012 and just their second in the past 15 seasons.
A post shared by Joe Haggerty (@hackswithhaggs) on
Not even the toughest among us can withstand something like this.
Massachusetts State Trooper Kevin Segee took a Zdeno Chara slap shot right where you don't want it while filling in as an emergency practice goalie at the Boston Bruins' optional skate Wednesday.
Chara, don't forget, holds the NHL All-Star record for the hardest shot at 108.8 mph (175.1 km/h) hit back in 2012.
Hopefully Segee was wearing the proper equipment to serve and protect himself.
Not only have the Oilers clinched their first playoff berth since 2006, the franchise has decided to part ways with the blue home jersey in favor of the orange-heavy look, beginning in the playoffs and extending into next season and beyond.
"I want to touch and respect the past, but we’re in a new building. We’re in a new era. We have a new leader in Connor McDavid. We have a team that is building their identity for today,” said Oilers Entertainment Group vice-chairman Bob Nicholson, per Terry Jones of the Edmonton journal.
"It’s great to talk about playoff memories from the past and 2006 (trip to Stanley Cup Final), but this is a new era. We will go orange for the playoffs with the jerseys."
Nicholson added: "Next year, we are mandated by the NHL to go to two uniforms without a third jersey. We will have two new uniforms, one orange and one white."
The orange jerseys were brought back last season as a tribute to the old WHA club and to commemorate the closing of Rexall Place.
Frederik Andersen appears set to suit up for Thursday's big game against the Predators.
The Toronto Maple Leafs goalie took the optional skate Wednesday, the morning after he was forced to sit out a win over the Blue Jackets with an upper-body injury.
Andersen said he felt good after taking the ice, and is traveling with the team to Nashville while fill-in Garret Sparks has been sent back to the AHL.
According to TSN's Mark Masters, Andersen said it will be determined on the plane whether he'll play against the Predators, although he added he felt optimistic and ready to go.
Barring a setback and emergency recall, all indications are that Andersen should at least be able to serve as backup to Curtis McElhinney.
A senior with the University of Minnesota, Kloos finished fourth in Big Ten scoring this season, recording 18 goals and 25 assists in 38 games.
The Minnesota native previously spent three seasons with the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks, where he wrapped the 2012-13 campaign with 87 points in 54 games.
Tampa Bay remains in the thick of the playoff race, three points back of the Boston Bruins for the second wild-card seed with one game in hand.
The Lightning have seven games remaining, and while Stamkos won't play in Thursday's contest against Detroit, he has not yet been ruled out for Saturday.
Stamkos has registered nine goals and 11 assists in 17 games this season.
As the NHL regular season winds down and the stakes get higher, it's important to stay loose.
Marc-Andre Fleury took that to heart at practice Wednesday, unscrewing the tops of the Pittsburgh Penguins' water bottles in order to soak unsuspecting teammates.
Prankster Fleury is at it again - unscrewing Gatorade bottles and hoping to soak unsuspecting teammates...
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Keeper/dynasty leagues can vary in terms of settings. If you're in a keeper league requiring value retention, such as auction keepers or keep-by-draft-position leagues, then the following list can be extremely beneficial.
In keeper leagues where you're allowed to keep only a handful of players, this article may not be all too relevant. However, if your league doesn't put a cap on how many players you can keep, or simply allows you to keep a large number, the following players are gold.
These players may not be having the most outstanding seasons but for various reasons, should improve significantly in 2017-18 (stats as of Wednesday, March 29).
C/RW Elias Lindholm, Carolina Hurricanes
Lindholm has enjoyed a solid season. He has 43 points in 65 games but the total could be much higher.
He ranks eighth in the NHL with 29 primary assists in all situations, according to Corsica.Hockey, leaving him with just a handful of secondary assists. This is quite an absurd and unfortunate assist ratio for Lindholm. For example, Edmonton Oilers C Connor McDavid leads the NHL with 38 primary assists, but he also has 24 secondary assists.
Lindholm is a former top-5 pick as recently as 2013. He may not seem so young since this is his fourth year in the league, but he has plenty of room to grow - especially as apart of a youthful Carolina team which is a lock to improve in 2017-18. The Swede could register 70 points as soon as next season.
RW Oliver Bjorkstrand, Columbus Blue Jackets
Bjorkstrand doesn't have much hype around him. He doesn't come with the luxurious top-10 pick tag (he was a third-round pick in 2013) and he hasn't produced at an otherworldly rate in his brief NHL career.
He does, however, rank third in the NHL in iSCF60 (individual scoring chances for per 60 minutes) among players who have played at least 300 minutes this season. He has only six goals and five assists in 22 games to show for it.
Given his track record of scoring in both the WHL (144 goals in 193 games) and the AHL (31 in 88), his scoring touch at the highest level could be right around the corner thanks to an absolutely lethal shot.
Even though the Blue Jackets are a youthful team built around depth, there are permanent openings in their top-six forward group for Bjorkstrand to take. Don't rule out a 30-goal season in 2017-18.
LW/RW Nino Niederreiter, Minnesota Wild
Niederreiter, like Lindholm, is a former fifth-overall pick who has been severely unlucky in the assist column. Of Niederreiter's 30 assists, 24 have been primary helpers.
In addition to being unlucky in the assist column, he also hasn't had much luck in the scoring department. Take a look:
Year
Shots
Goals
S%
Avg.DIST
16-17
171
20
11.7
24.49
15-16
159
20
12.6
26.1
14-15
149
24
16.1
24.82
He has already set a career high in shots this season but it hasn't resulted in more goals, despite taking higher quality shots. With a bit more puck luck in 2017-18, 30 goals is a real possibility.
Furthermore, Niederreiter comes with dual-position eligibility and has racked up at least 100 hits in five straight seasons, cementing his value in banger leagues.
D Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Slavin might be the most underrated defenseman in the NHL - and he's only 22 years old. Since the 'Canes dealt veteran blueliner Ron Hainsey at the trade deadline, Slavin has 14 points in 18 games while averaging 24:23 per game. In fact, nobody on Carolina has logged more minutes per game this year - even D Justin Faulk.
Perhaps the most impressive part about Slavin's game is he has a plus-21 rating on such a poor and inexperienced team. Considering he is second in the NHL in takeaways, this plus/minus doesn't appear to be a fluke.
A young defenseman on a growing team who could potentially put up 40 points (he has 33 this season) with a high plus/minus and plenty of blocked shots is more than worth keeping for a pick typically reserved for a dart throw.
