With his team on the brink of elimination, Boston Bruins interim head coach Bruce Cassidy has made a lineup decision that could have a big impact on the future of Ryan Spooner.

The 25-year-old center, who's set to become a restricted free agent this summer, will sit out Game 5 against the Ottawa Senators as the Bruins look to stave off elimination. At first, Cassidy said Spooner may not be playing at 100 percent health, but he later clarified the decision to insert rookie Sean Kuraly into the lineup.

"(Spooner) could play. This is more about what Sean brings right now," Cassidy said, per Joe Haggerty of CSNNE. "Clearly Ryan does some very good things for us, but we just made a decision that Sean, as a center iceman, will bring us some good qualities as well. So we had to make that decision."

And what are those qualities?

"I still think most of these games come down to the will at the puck, on the puck, around the puck," Cassidy added, according to Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe. "And we just have to have that. We’ve got to outwill them at the puck, to win pucks, and once we have it, we’ve got to outwill them at the net to get second chances and we have to outwill them in our slot area."

Spooner was often seen to be at odds with Claude Julien, and even admitted he didn't think the former head coach liked him as a player. Deployed on the wing to start the season under Julien and shifted back to center when Cassidy took over, he ultimately recorded 11 goals and 28 assists in 78 games, 10 points off his production from the season prior.

With his current two-year, $1.9-million deal set to expire at season's end, Spooner's benching after only two assists in four playoff games certainly doesn't bode well for a contract extension with the Bruins.

Kuraly, who came to Boston from San Jose as part of the Martin Jones trade, is under contract through to the end of next season, and has recorded one assist in 10 games with the Bruins.

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Sean Monahan has elected not to participate in the upcoming World Championship and to instead repair an injured wrist so he can be healthy heading into next season.

The Calgary Flames forward spoke two days after his club was swept by the Anaheim Ducks, where he admitted he was asked by Team Canada to play, but he has other priorities.

"They did ask me and I’d love to go," Monahan said, according to Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald. "I'm going to get some kinks out of (my wrist) and be ready to go for next season."

Related: Gaudreau headed to Paris for worlds, Giordano considering it

While Monahan may have been laboring with a wrist injury, he didn't show it. The 22-year-old led the Flames in goals and points in the playoffs with four and five, respectively, in four games.

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The New York Islanders might be zeroing in on a new home.

The club intends to file a bid with the state to construct a new arena at Belmont Park, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Friday.

"Yes, there is a (request for proposal) for Belmont and I know they are going to participate in that," Bettman told a group from The Associated Press Sports Editors, according to Newsday's Mike Rose, Jim Baumbach, and Robert Brodsky.

As he's said before, Bettman made it clear Islanders owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky are "reviewing their options" - another of which is the land next to Citi Field, home of Major League Baseball's New York Mets, in Willets Point.

"I believe that everyone thinks there is a terrific opportunity there, if not at Willets Point, to create a more hockey-friendly environment for the Islanders, which is something Scott is committed to do," Bettman said.

The NHL club has been talking with the Mets' owners about collaborating on the potential development, sources told Newsday.

Belmont Park has been on the Islanders' radar for months, as Newsday reported in July.

A deadline is nearing for the team and Barclays Center officials to begin renegotiating their license agreement. That renegotiation period must happen before either side can opt out of the pact in January.

The Islanders have been exploring alternatives to the current arena due to its well-documented lackluster ice conditions, poor sightlines, and the difficult commute it requires for many of the team's fans on Long Island.

A report from Chris Botta in October claimed Barclays Center's piping system doesn't meet NHL requirements, and Bloomberg's Scott Soshnick reported in January that arena officials were looking at terminating their agreement with the Islanders.

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Klas will be in session in Raleigh once again next fall.

The Carolina Hurricanes signed defenseman Klas Dahlbeck to a one-year contract extension worth $850,000.

Dahlbeck played mostly third-pairing minutes for Carolina this season, averaging under 14 minutes of ice time and contributing six points in 43 games.

The 25-year-old was a restricted free agent. His new deal will give him a $100,000 raise, in terms of his cap hit.

In October, Dahlbeck was claimed on waivers by the Hurricanes from the Arizona Coyotes, with whom he played 71 games in 2015-16.

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Kris Versteeg clearly doesn't want to play in Europe next season.

"If I'm sitting in Switzerland in September, my agent is getting fired," the pending unrestricted free-agent forward quipped to reporters, according to Postmedia's Wes Gilbertson, as the Calgary Flames cleaned out their stalls Friday.

Versteeg, who'll be a UFA if unsigned by July 1, is coming off his best season since 2011-12 from a goal- and point-production standpoint.

He scored 15 times and chipped in 37 points in the regular season for the Flames, who were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.

Versteeg scored in Game 3 and added three assists in the series.

The 30-year-old signed a one-year deal with Calgary last October after joining the Edmonton Oilers training camp on a pro tryout.

The Flames were Versteeg's seventh team in 10 NHL seasons.

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Jonathan Dahlen has put pen to paper with the Vancouver Canucks.

Dahlen signed a three-year, entry-level contract, the club announced Friday.

He was dealt to the Canucks by the Ottawa Senators in the Alex Burrows trade in late February.

Related: 3 things to know about Jonathan Dahlen

The 19-year-old forward scored 25 goals in 45 games playing his second full season with Timra in the Allsvenskan, Sweden's second-tier league. Dahlen was given the Golden Cage, awarded annually to the Allsvenskan's best junior player.

He notched five goals in seven games for Sweden at the 2017 World Junior Championship, and was selected 42nd overall by the Senators in 2016.

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Patrick Kane has a theory about why the Chicago Blackhawks' season ended Thursday, the club swept out of the playoffs by the Nashville Predators.

Despite being the top seed in the Western Conference and winning 50 games for only the second time in club history, Chicago's done after scoring only three goals in four games against Nashville.

"Maybe we won a couple close games that might have made us feel like we were better than we really were," Kane said following Thursday's loss, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Lazerus.

The data suggests Kane may have a point. Chicago led the NHL in one-goal victories, with 24. The Blackhawks' winning percentage in one-goal wins was .571, which ranked seventh in the league. However, the six teams ahead of the Blackhawks were some of the league's best, and all playoff teams:

A 50-win season doesn't happen by chance. The Blackhawks ran into a hot goalie, and a quietly dangerous team in the Predators, and now the soul-searching begins.

There will be changes, especially on defense, but Chicago remains committed to its core of Kane, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, and Corey Crawford. However, as Lazerus points out, Chicago was the oldest team in the league this season, and needs its young players - Ryan Hartman, Nick Schmaltz, Tanner Kero, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Alex DeBrincat - to continue making strides (and, in DeBrincat's case, to make the team).

The Blackhawks have, in a way, spoiled their supporters by winning three Stanley Cups since 2010. Only one team ends up the champion in the end, and it can't always be Chicago.

But the loss to Nashville stings, making it two straight years Chicago's been bounced in the first round.

"(It) certainly nullifies it to me," head coach Joel Quenneville said of his team's 50-win season. Six-and-a-half months out the window, just like that.

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Johnny Gaudreau wants to play more hockey this season.

His NHL season over after the Calgary Flames were swept in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks, Gaudreau confirmed Friday he'll be going to Paris to represent the U.S. at the world championship tournament.

Gaudreau was limited to only two assists in four games against the Ducks. He played at the worlds in 2014, recording two goals and eight assists in eight games.

Meanwhile, Gaudreau's teammate and Flames captain Mark Giordano is mulling over his participation for Team Canada, and will take two or three days to decide, according to Sportsnet's Roger Millions.

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It ain't easy being the leader of the Montreal Canadiens.

Max Pacioretty is goalless through five playoff games, the Habs are now facing elimination against the New York Rangers, and the captain is "missing," according to at least one intrepid Canadiens supporter.

New York's up 3-2 and Game 6 goes Saturday night in Manhattan at 8 p.m. ET.

Pacioretty - with one assist to show for his first round - will be looking to break out. Ditto Alex Galchenyuk - goalless with three assists - and Andrew Shaw, who is yet to record a point in the series.

Hey, don't blame them. Blame Henrik Lundqvist.

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It was a wild scene outside Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night following the Nashville Predators' historic sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks in their first-round playoff series.

Related: Predators earn 1st sweep in franchise history with win over Blackhawks

The Tennessean captured video of a group of fans celebrating the Predators' 4-1 win by jumping on a car painted in Blackhawks colors and then flipping it over. It was all for a good cause, though.

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