Here is the men's hockey roster Canada will be icing at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, as revealed by Hockey Canada on Thursday:
Forwards
Rene Bourque
Gilbert Brule
Andrew Ebbett
Quinton Howden
Chris Kelly
Rob Klinkhammer
Brandon Kozun
Maxim Lapierre
Eric O'Dell
Mason Raymond
Derek Roy
Christian Thomas
Linden Vey
Wojtek Wolski
Defensemen
Stefan Elliott
Chay Genoway
Cody Goloubef
Marc-Andre Gragnani
Chris Lee
Maxim Noreau
Mat Robinson
Karl Stollery
Goaltenders
Justin Peters
Kevin Poulin
Ben Scrivens
Former Vancouver Canucks bench boss Willie Desjardins will serve as Canada's head coach for the tournament, and his team is made up of players from seven different leagues across North America and Europe.
Former NHL goaltender and executive Sean Burke is Canada's general manager.
The U.S. Army is renewing its battle with the Vegas Golden Knights over their team name, but the club insists it's done nothing wrong.
On Wednesday, the Department of the Army filed a notice of opposition against Black Knight Sports and Entertainment - the company that owns and operates the NHL expansion franchise - with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office over the use of the club's moniker, as obtained by SportsLogos.net's Chris Creamer.
The team fired back Thursday.
"We strongly dispute the Army's allegations that confusion is likely between the Army Golden Knights parachute team and the Vegas Golden Knights major-league hockey team," the NHL squad said in a statement, via Sports Illustrated's Alex Prewitt.
"Indeed, the two entities have been coexisting without any issues for over a year (along with several other Golden Knights trademark owners) and we are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending our games that they were expecting to see the parachute team and not a professional hockey game," the Golden Knights added.
"That said, in light of the pending trademark opposition proceedings, we will have no further comment at this time and will address the Army's opposition in the relevant legal forums."
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, a U.S. Military Academy graduate, said in the past that he initially wanted to call the team the Black Knights, the name used by Army's athletic program, but settled on Golden Knights because that's the name of the school's parachute team.
The NHL club has until Feb. 19 to respond to the notice of opposition.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers came into the season listed among the favorites in their respective conferences to reach the Stanley Cup Final - quite a laurel, considering where both teams were a few seasons ago.
Fast-forward to the second week of January, and only one of these teams remains in the hunt for a championship berth - while the other might soon be getting ready for yet another plum seat at the draft lottery.
While Maple Leafs fans continue to enjoy seeing their team jockey for position at the top of the Eastern Conference table, Oilers supporters are deciding which guy they want to see fired this week. It's an incredible divergence between two franchise that entered 2017-18 full of hope and promise following stronger-than-expected playoff showings last season.
So, what exactly went wrong for the Oilers? And what can they learn from a Maple Leafs team that has mastered its rebuilding process to the point where it finds itself a Stanley Cup contender just two seasons after stumbling to the worst record in the NHL?
Plenty, as it turns out. And while there's a tongue-in-cheek element to this post, it's fair to say nearly everything that has gone right for Toronto this season has gone horribly wrong for Edmonton.
Your star center can't do it all
Connor McDavid might be a better overall player than Auston Matthews, but that hasn't made a lick of difference in the standings. In fact, while McDavid has emerged as the only reliable scoring option in an otherwise inept Oilers offense, the Maple Leafs have already shown they can score in bunches even with Matthews on the shelf due to injury.
Consider that Toronto has 10 players with at least 20 points, while Edmonton boasts just five. The Maple Leafs have four skaters who have surpassed the 14-goal mark, while the Oilers have just two. Balanced scoring is critical, and Edmonton is getting nothing in that department, having scored just four goals over its past six games while going an unsurprising 1-5-0.
Solid goaltending matters
It took some time for Frederik Andersen to find his form, but he has emerged as one of the league's top netminders since the beginning of November, going 16-8-2 with a 2.36 goals-against average, a .931 save percentage, and a pair of shutouts. He's a major reason why the Maple Leafs haven't lost more than three games in a row at any point during that stretch.
Things haven't gone nearly as well for Edmonton netminder Cam Talbot, who put together a sensational 2016-17 campaign but has been a shell of that player this season. Not only are his 3.09 GAA and .902 save percentage the worst marks of his career, he has been downright abysmal so far in 2018, going 1-4-0 with a 3.59 GAA and a woeful .885 save percentage.
Don't ignore special teams
With a few exceptions, successful franchises excel in at least one area of special teams. And the Maple Leafs have been terrific in that regard, coming into Thursday ranked eighth in power-play conversion (20.9 percent) and fourth in penalty killing (84.8 percent). It's an extension of their success from last year, when they were second and 10th, respectively.
As for the Oilers ... it's bad. Their 16 percent power-play success rate ranks 26th out of 31 teams - a long, long way from their fifth-place showing last season - and they've been even worse on the penalty kill, sitting in the NHL basement at 71.4 percent. And things are getting worse, with the Oilers having surrendered nine power-play goals in their last seven games.
Play your cards right
Both teams have been blessed with a trove of talented forwards - but you wouldn't know it by looking at the Oilers' roster. In just over a year and a half, Edmonton has traded two former No. 1 picks (Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov) and a fellow first-rounder (Jordan Eberle) for a reliable but offensively challenged blue-liner (Adam Larsson), an erratic young center (Ryan Strome), and a former fourth-rounder toiling in the ECHL (Zach Pochiro).
Since beginning the rebuilding process, the Maple Leafs have had to deal with bouts of inconsistency from young forwards Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and Nazem Kadri. But rather than send them packing, Toronto opted to hold onto them, bolstering its goaltending, defense, and forward depth in other ways. Given the way all three have embraced pivotal roles up front, it's safe to say the Leafs are happy they did.
The player who tossed his silver medal into the crowd after losing the gold-medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championship was reportedly dealing with a significant injury.
Sweden's Lias Andersson suffered a separated shoulder midway through the tournament and played both the semifinal and final with it, TSN's Bob McKenzie reported Wednesday afternoon.
Andersson was in New York City rehabbing his shoulder Wednesday, and he'll likely be out of action for two-to-four weeks, according to the report.
The 19-year-old center is playing this season with Frolunda in the Swedish Hockey League. He served as Sweden's captain at the tourney and was a first-round pick (seventh overall) of the New York Rangers.
A report from The Athletic's Craig Custance last week revealed Duclair had requested a trade out of Arizona, but Coyotes general manager John Chayka revealed a potential move has been brewing for a while now.
"It's gone back for a few years now where the team wasn't particularly happy with the player and the player wasn't particularly happy with the team," Chayka said, per Stephen Whyno of The Associated Press.
Duclair was acquired by the Coyotes in 2015 as a part of the package for defenseman Keith Yandle, and in his first full season with the team, he looked like a piece to build around in the future after scoring 20 goals and 44 points.
Since then, however, Duclair has struggled, producing only 15 points in 58 games last season, and the same amount in 33 contests in 2017-18.
All-Star rosters were revealed by the league on Wednesday, so, naturally, the heated debates surrounding which players perhaps should have been chosen to compete in Tampa Bay at the end of the month will now begin.
Leaving a Panther off the list of All-Stars is never exactly a glaring omission. But, in the case of Huberdeau, the argument can be made that his name should be in the mix.
Huberdeau leads the Panthers in assists (27) and points (43), while also rocking a stellar Corsi For percentage of 54.5 in just over 20 minutes of ice time per game. Factor in that the Florida winger is red-hot of late, notching 11 points in his last eight games, and his exclusion becomes even more notable.
Snub honorable mentions: Morgan Rielly, D, Toronto Maple Leafs; Mark Stone, RW, Ottawa Senators; Patrice Bergeron, C, Boston Bruins.
OK, look. You're never going to catch us spitting such blasphemy as "Sidney Crosby doesn't deserve to be in the All-Star Game," because Sid is still very much the real deal, despite an up-and-down season. However, with that said, his Penguins teammate Kessel is perhaps the sole reason Pittsburgh still finds itself clinging to playoff contention.
Kessel has been nothing short of sensational so far for the Pens, currently sitting 11th in the league scoring with 18 goals and 29 assists to go along with a positive Corsi For of 51.5.
There is no doubt Crosby deserves a spot among the best in the business, but on the back of his solid 2017-18 campaign, so does Kessel.
Snub honorable mentions: Sergei Bobrovksy, G, Columbus Blue Jackets; Jakub Voracek, RW, Philadelphia Flyers; John Carlson, D, Washington Capitals; Anders Lee, LW, New York Islanders.
Tarasenko's run of consecutive All-Star nods ends at three, as the Blues sniper was left off this year's squad despite registering yet another solid offensive season of 19 goals and 25 assists, so far.
The Russian talisman might be on pace for his lowest goal output (33) since he entered the league in 2012, but Tarasenko has evolved his game this campaign, becoming a more complete player while also logging more minutes and making his teammates better around him. Case in point: Brayden Schenn is having a career year playing on Tarasenko's wing and will be making his first-ever All-Star appearance.
A collection of the league's elite just isn't complete without one of the best pure scorers in the game.
Snub notable mentions: Jamie Benn, LW, Dallas Stars; Ryan Suter, D, Minnesota Wild; Roman Josi, D, Nashville Predators.
Seemingly unable to earn any respect despite putting up strong offensive numbers in back-to-back seasons, the criminally underrated Marchessault continues to produce despite getting little love from fans around the league.
Across the past 113 games for the Panthers and the Golden Knights, Marchessault has 46 goals and 45 assists to go along with seven game-winning tallies.
Marchessault has been Vegas' best forward so far this season on a team that has easily been the feel-good story of the year, making his omission that much more puzzling.
Snub notable mentions: John Gibson, G, Anaheim Ducks; Clayton Keller, C, Arizona Coyotes; Sean Monahan, C, Calgary Flames.
Duclair is believed to have recently requested a trade out of the desert, seemingly in search of a fresh start after struggling to regain the fine form of his rookie year that saw him record 20 goals and 24 assists in 81 games.
The 22-year-old scored nine goals and added six assists in 33 games for the Coyotes this season, and he's set to become a restricted free agent this summer.
In return, the Coyotes receive 26-year-old Panik, who has this season and next remaining on a deal that carries a $2.8-million cap hit.
In 37 games this campaign, he contributed six goals and 10 assists.
No salary was retained in the deal, TSN's Pierre LeBrun adds, thereby freeing up some cap space for Chicago after taking on the balance of Duclair's $1.2-million cap hit.
Dauphin and Clendening are minor leaguers with limited NHL experience, with Duclair and Panik clearly serving as the centerpieces of this deal.
