The NHL is reportedly taking preemptive action to discourage its clubs from discussing individual Olympic participation with their players.
The league has directed teams not to talk to the players about the possibility of playing in the 2018 Games, and the NHL will rule later on the matter, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
He added that the players aren't so sure the Olympic saga is over.
Have heard from a few players expressing doubt the 2018 Olympic issue is dead. The NHL says "officially closed," but some question that...
Lundqvist has won a pair of medals representing Sweden on the Olympic stage, capturing gold at the 2006 Games in Turin and earning silver in Sochi back in 2014.
Prout received an interference major and a game misconduct for the hit, which came in retaliation for a clean body check by Gudas on Devils forward John Quenneville.
The league called the response a "forceful" hit to the "unsuspecting and defenseless" Gudas.
Prout clocked Gudas almost immediately after stepping on the ice for his shift, making "no attempt to join the play in any matter," according to the NHL.
The NHL will not participate in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, the league announced Monday, reiterating that the "overwhelming majority" of its clubs are adamantly opposed to disrupting next season's schedule to accommodate participation.
"A number of months have now passed and no meaningful dialogue has materialized," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "Instead, the IOC has now expressed the position that the NHL's participation in Beijing in 2022 is conditioned on our participation in South Korea in 2018.
"And the NHLPA has now publicly confirmed that it has no interest or intention of engaging in any discussion that might make Olympic participation more attractive to the clubs. As a result, and in an effort to create clarity among conflicting reports and erroneous speculation, this will confirm our intention to proceed with finalizing our 2017-18 regular season schedule without any break to accommodate the Olympic Winter Games. We now consider the matter officially closed."
This season marks the third time in the last five years the Flyers will be missing the playoffs. With the elimination from playoff contention, the club became the first team in NHL history to have a 10-game winning streak and miss the playoffs in the same season.
The tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason got the job done last season, but have been quite awful this year. The duo has a combined save percentage of just .900 - the fourth-worst mark among NHL teams.
Poor goaltending can have a trickle-down effect on a team's defensemen. Knowing their goalie can't make routine saves, a defenseman can have a tendency to want to just "make the safe play" and might end up gripping their stick a bit too tight. This can limit creativity on the breakout.
Defense
Philadelphia's defense can't blame everything on the goaltending, though. In fact, you could make the argument that the Flyers' blue line is the main reason why the goaltending has been so horrendous. It's your classic chicken vs. egg scenario.
There's a lot to like about Ivan Provorov, the club's seventh-overall pick in 2015, but playing defense in the NHL is much harder to do at such a young age compared to forward. He has shown No. 1 D potential, but as a rookie, he has been prone to mistakes. His 80 giveaways are 15th-most in the league.
Gostisbehere has had a turbulent season to say the least. He hasn't produced at the same rate offensively compared to last season and was even a healthy scratch for a few games earlier in the year because of his poor defensive zone play.
Provorov and Gostisbehere should be nice building blocks moving forward, but the rest of the defense is comprised of players who belong on a team's bottom pair, rather than playing top-4 minutes.
Big names didn't meet expectations
Voracek, Giroux, Schenn, and Simmonds are a combined minus-73 this season. Plus/minus is far from a perfect stat, but a number such as that is quite telling.
Giroux in particular is at the forefront of the team's struggles. He is the captain of the team and has a cap hit of $8.275 million through 2021-22.
Assuming Giroux doesn't reel off 10 points in the last three games of the year, this will mark the fourth straight year in which his point total has decreased.
In addition to Giroux, Voracek is having a second consecutive underwhelming season after tallying 81 points in 2014-15.
Where do they go from here?
The Flyers have two "B" rated prospects coming up on the back end in Travis Sanheim and Samuel Morin, according to Hockey's Future. Along with Provorov and Gostisbehere, this would form a top-4 that could be very effective a few years down the road, even if it results in some growing pains over the next couple of seasons.
Given the youth on the back end, it might be smart for Philadelphia to move one of their big names up front for more youth and depth across the lineup.
Simmonds could be an ideal trade candidate. He has scored at least 28 goals in five straight non-lockout years, but his rugged style of play suggests that he won't age all that well. The 28-year-old has a cap hit of $3.975 million through 2018-19, so there would be no shortage of teams interested.
If the Flyers decide to go in the direction of a rebuild, signing a big-name goaltender like Ben Bishop on July 1 wouldn't make too much sense. It might be worth giving 23-year-old goalie Anthony Stolarz a shot to start next season to see what they have in him. It's quite clear that neither Mason or Neuvirth is a long-term answer between the pipes.
Stolarz has shined this season, albeit in just three starts. The former second-round pick has posted strong numbers in both the AHL and OHL throughout his career.
A rebuild certainly isn't what Flyers fans want to hear, but it might be the best thing for the organization. Retooling rather than rebuilding is also a possibility, but it's a move that rarely works.
The future Hall of Famer will be absent from this year's playoff dance after the Los Angeles Kings were eliminated from postseason contention following a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday.
The 39-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent, and there are no assurances he'll return for another season in Hollywood, particularly when the Kings' cap concerns are taken into consideration.
After 16 seasons with the Calgary Flames, Iginla's short-lived stint with the Kings appears to be another missed shot at capturing his first Stanley Cup.
The former Flames captain has bounced around the league in recent seasons in search of Lord Stanley, first accepting a trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2013 deadline. Over the past four seasons, he has seen stints with the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and, this March, Los Angeles.
His illustrious career now spans five different stops:
Team
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Flames
1219
525
570
1095
Penguins
13
5
6
11
Bruins
78
30
31
61
Avalanche
225
59
65
124
Kings
15
6
2
8
After moving on from last-placed Colorado, Iginla rediscovered his scoring touch and put up eight points through 15 games with the Kings. Still, banking on the aging veteran to keep up that type of production in future seasons would be unrealistic.
Considering the Kings' diminishing flexibility, and the team's shift outside of the contender's circle, Iginla must soon decide whether to move on to his sixth club in search of his first Cup, or to put an exclamation point on one of the game's finest careers.
During the third period, Josh Anderson got tangled up with Alex Ovechkin, who, while being escorted to the penalty box, made sure to point out the Blue Jackets forward's bloody nose.
Face-punching Alex Ovechkin tells Josh Anderson to wipe the blood off his nose pic.twitter.com/gFTCjJuQcT
The forward was a healthy scratch in Sunday's contest against his former club, the San Jose Sharks, a warning that coach Willie Desjardins expects a better effort from the young winger.
"He's a skilled player and you've got to get your skill working hard," Desjardins told Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Sun. "I didn't think he worked hard enough last game and he'll be back in (Tuesday in San Jose). He needs to prove that he can go hard at this level, but he's got to go hard."
The coach hopes Goldobin's time on the sidelines sends a message.
"It's a two-way street. It's not that I don't play young guys like (Brock) Boeser," Desjardins added. "If they come in and they're going, they play. We just have to get him (Goldobin) more engaged."
Goldobin is expected to suit up Tuesday against the the Sharks when the two sides meet up again.
The Russian winger was acquired from the Sharks at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Jannik Hansen to the Bay Area. Since the trade, Goldobin has appeared in eight games with his new club, registering a lone point with a goal against the Los Angeles Kings in his debut.
Goldobin, 21, is in the first year of his entry-level contract after spending most of last season with the Barracuda, San Jose's minor-league team.
A recent surge from the Chicago Blackhawks has landed them as the new favorites to win the Stanley Cup, surpassing the Washington Capitals. Here are the latest odds:
A recent surge from the Chicago Blackhawks has landed them as the new favorites to win the Stanley Cup, surpassing the Washington Capitals. Here are the latest odds:
