Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban has been fined $2,000 under NHL Rule 64 (diving / embellishment), the league announced Wednesday.
The fine is based on an incident that took place during the third period of Game 4 of Nashville's series against the St. Louis Blues in which Subban (embellishment) and Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson (roughing) received offsetting minor penalties.
Subban was issued a warning back in January, meaning the next occurrence would trigger the fine based on the graduated scale outlined by Rule 64.
The next occurrence of diving or embellishment would result in a $3,000 fine.
The Edmonton Oilers star laughed off the viral photo in which he was flanked a little too closely by a pair of fans at the airport Tuesday night.
"That picture was a little bit weird," McDavid told reporters with a smile Wednesday. "I don't how you're supposed to feel comfortable when they're holding you like that."
Those comments drew laughs from the assembled media, and McDavid wasn't done poking fun at the bizarre yet hilarious image.
"I was pretty much in a death grip, so I was just trying to get on the plane as fast as I could, but I was obviously stopped up pretty good there," he added.
Here's the photo, if you haven't had the good fortune of seeing it yet:
Here's what happened on Day 6 of the World Hockey Championship in Paris, France, and Cologne, Germany.
United States 3 - Italy 0
A pair of New York Islanders teammates did all of the damage for the U.S. against Italy on Wednesday, as Brock Nelson notched two goals and Anders Lee scored once.
The Americans earned their third consecutive victory at the tournament, and they've outscored opponents 14-5 in those wins.
Jimmy Howard only needed to make nine saves to earn the shutout for his second victory at the tourney.
The U.S. (3-0-0-1) now sits second in Group A behind Latvia (3-0-0-0), which also has nine points but holds a game in hand. Those two will meet Saturday.
Canada (3-0-0-0) is idle Wednesday, and faces France (1-1-0-1) on Thursday.
For full scores and coverage, visit the IIHF's World Championship website.
The New York Rangers' season went out with a whimper Tuesday night in a 4-2 loss on home ice in Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators.
Despite accruing 102 points in the regular season and avoiding the Metropolitan Division to begin the playoffs, the Rangers weren't able to deliver despite a seemingly favorable path through the postseason.
The Rangers boast four quality lines up front, and while Henrik Lundqvist endured more ups and downs than usual this season, goaltending isn't completely to blame for New York's departure.
Instead, the team's aged defensive corps was its undoing, unable to contain Ottawa's resolve or the best defenseman in the game, Erik Karlsson.
Alas, another season in the Rangers' expiring championship window has fallen by the wayside, and fixing the problem won't come easily for general manager Jeff Gorton.
The outlook
Ryan McDonagh is a legitimate No. 1 pairing defenseman, while Brady Skjei emerged as a reliable defender in his first full season.
They aren't the problem - it's the elder statesmen on the back end who need to be addressed.
Player
Age
Cap Hit
Contract Expires
CF%
Scoring Chances For - Against
Points
Dan Girardi
33
$5.5M
2020
44%
139-145
15
Marc Staal
30
$5.7M
2021
46.9%
185-185
10
(All regular-season stats recorded at 5-on-5, Courtesy Corsica-Hockey)
After a troubling regular season, Girardi and Staal continued to struggle in the playoffs. Despite averaging the second-most minutes of all New York blue-liners, Girardi was ineffective in suppressing shots while improperly deployed on the top pairing.
Staal, meanwhile, logged a modest 19:15 per game in 12 playoff contests with a team-worst 45.88 Corsi For percentage.
The eye test did neither player favors, either, as the declining footspeed of both Girardi and Staal left them exposed in various matchups throughout the postseason.
Unfortunately for New York, the stay-at-home style that the duo employs is becoming less and less effective in today's NHL, making the committed money much more difficult to bear.
The options
Both Girardi and Staal own no-movement clauses, meaning automatic protection in the upcoming expansion draft. If New York chooses the 7-3-1 protection format, the third spot will undoubtedly go to McDonagh, leaving a younger, cheaper, and more reliable Kevin Klein available to be plucked.
The most feasible option for New York to move on from Girardi or Staal would be a buyout, and while it would still count against the cap for years to come as dead money, Gorton and the Rangers' brass have to consider it to overhaul the blue line.
Is there real room to improve?
New York went out and acquired Brendan Smith at the deadline, which helped, but he's a pending unrestricted free agent, and there's no guarantee he won't test the market - especially if the Rangers can't clear any money.
The pool of free-agent defensemen this summer is thin, but is headlined by Kevin Shattenkirk, who was linked to his hometown Rangers in trade talks all season. Again, available funds will be the deciding factor.
The wound of another early postseason exit is still fresh for the Rangers, but any attempt at improvement this offseason has to be centered around repairing the back end. Difficult, imperative decisions lie ahead.
The St. Louis Blues assistant general manager will not serve as the club's goaltending coach in 2017-18.
"He wasn't fired, just for the record," head coach Mike Yeo quipped Tuesday, according to the team's official website.
Blues GM Doug Armstrong said Brodeur will lead the search for the team's next goalie coach.
Brodeur took over the goalie role in February after Yeo was promoted to head coach following the firing of Ken Hitchcock. The legendary former netminder was named assistant GM of the Blues in the spring of 2015.
Blues starter Jake Allen and backup Carter Hutton both played well down the stretch before St. Louis was eliminated by the Nashville Predators in the second round of the playoffs.
Fleury has provided stability in Murray's absence, winning seven of Pittsburgh's 11 playoff games while posting a .921 save percentage.
Murray was the Penguins' starter more often than not in the regular season, going 32-10-4 with a 2.41 GAA, a save percentage of .923, and four shutouts in 49 games.
There's no shortage of intrigue as the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers prepare to decide their second-round matchup in Game 7 on Wednesday night.
The Ducks will have the home crowd behind them for the winner-take-all contest, but that's hardly been an advantage for either team in this series.
Anaheim enters the game as the favorite, but the Ducks' difficulty in Game 7s at home is well documented. Edmonton has the momentum by virtue of a 7-1 destruction of the Ducks in Game 6 at Rogers Place, but Anaheim can still get the last laugh with a better effort in Game 7.
Here are a few things the Oilers have to do to advance to the Western Conference final:
Keep McDavid and Draisaitl apart
Oilers head coach Todd McLellan decided to break up Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Game 5, and while Edmonton lost that game, the move has largely paid off.
Both players scored in that contest - before the Oilers' collapse and crushing defeat in double overtime - and while McDavid was held off the score sheet in Game 6, Draisaitl exploded for a hat trick and five points in Edmonton's blowout victory.
McDavid's line is still likely to draw the attention of stellar defensive forward Ryan Kesler, but spreading the Oilers' most dynamic scorers out over two lines has freed up Draisaitl and allowed Edmonton to better utilize its best offensive options.
Learn from Game 5
The last time the Oilers played in Anaheim, things didn't end well. Edmonton scored three times in the second period, but blew a 3-0 lead in the third and lost 4-3 on Corey Perry's double-overtime winner.
However, Edmonton won the first two games of the series in California, and finished strong in both contests.
The Oilers gave up the first goal in the opening game, but then scored five of the next seven en route to a 5-3 win at Honda Center. Edmonton followed that up with a 2-1 victory in hostile territory in Game 2.
If they can close out the final game of the series the way they finished the first two, Edmonton should be able to avoid another heartbreaking defeat.
Get in the Ducks' heads
The Ducks have more playoff experience, but they also have more baggage.
Anaheim has lost four consecutive Game 7s on home ice, and while Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle tried to distance himself from the club's previous failures under Bruce Boudreau, the pressure is squarely on Carlyle and his veterans to exorcise the demons.
Edmonton hasn't been intimidated on the road in this series, winning two of three away games and coming within one third-period meltdown of emerging victorious in all of them.
As much as the Ducks insist their Game 7 struggles aren't an issue, the longer the Oilers control play Wednesday night, the more doubt will creep into the minds of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and the other members of Anaheim's leadership group who've endured the quartet of disappointments in decisive games.
Regardless of how it ends, Game 7 between the Oilers and Ducks should live up to the hype.
The Edmonton Oilers made the playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons and are now a win away from advancing to the Western Conference Final.
But they'll have to go through the Anaheim Ducks to do it, a team which has proven that it doesn't go away easily. That was most evident in Game 5, when Anaheim rallied for a 4-3 double-overtime win after trailing by three goals with less than four minutes left in regulation.
Just one month into his new gig, it's clear Rob Blake assumed power in the Los Angeles Kings' front office with a plan.
The franchise icon, whose No. 4 hangs from the rafters at Staples Center, took over for two-time Stanley Cup visionary Dean Lombardi as the Kings' general manager when ownership decided to clean house upon missing the postseason for the second time in three years.
On Tuesday afternoon, Blake conducted his first orders of business, trading Ben Bishop's rights to Dallas and inking forward Tanner Pearson to a team-friendly four-year extension.
The Bishop deal was an inevitability, and fetching a fourth-round pick is a reasonable return for a player who started seven games for the organization. However, it's the latter move, a shrewd signing of one of Los Angeles' best forwards, that sticks out as a step in the right direction.
Pearson, just 24, was one of two Kings players to eclipse 20 goals last season, and set career highs in that mark (24) and points (44). His four-year, $15-million extension makes him the fifth-richest forward on Blake's roster - a bargain for a player of his caliber.
Working with new head coach John Stevens, Blake's No. 1 priority this offseason has to be improving the Kings' dismal offense, and locking down Pearson secures one of the top possession drivers on the team. Among all Los Angeles forwards with similar minutes, he ranked third with a 56.7 Corsi For rating, and trailed only Jeff Carter with 25 primary points at even strength.
Re-upping on Pearson at an appropriate price was a necessity if Blake and the Kings are seeking a retool rather than a full-fledged rebuild.
Blake still has plenty of work to do to return the Kings to relevance in the Western Conference, particularly unloading salary to create more cap flexibility, and infusing youth into a team that looked flat-out slow down the stretch. Not to mention, Pearson's linemate, Tyler Toffoli, needs a contract, too.
It's just a small sample at the beginning of his tenure, but the Kings' new GM is off to a good start heading into a summer with a long to-do list.
