The Ottawa Senators are looking to trade forward Derek Stepan, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday's "Headlines" segment during Hockey Night in Canada.

Ottawa dealt a second-round pick to acquire Stepan from the Arizona Coyotes shortly before the beginning of the season. The 30-year-old is in the final campaign of his contract, which carries a $6.5-million cap hit.

Stepan has been fairly productive for most of his career, but his numbers have fallen off over the past few seasons. He's tallied one goal and three assists while averaging 15:53 minutes of ice time over 11 games with the Senators this campaign.

However, Stepan isn't believed to be on the trade block due to his on-ice production.

"I don't think this is a performance issue as much as it's a family issue," Friedman said. "He's away from his family and I think they want to get him closer."

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Ottawa Senators are looking to trade forward Derek Stepan, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday's "Headlines" segment during Hockey Night in Canada.

Ottawa dealt a second-round pick to acquire Stepan from the Arizona Coyotes shortly before the beginning of the season. The 30-year-old is in the final campaign of his contract, which carries a $6.5-million cap hit.

Stepan has been fairly productive for most of his career, but his numbers have fallen off over the past few seasons. He's tallied one goal and three assists while averaging 15:53 minutes of ice time over 11 games with the Senators this campaign.

However, Stepan isn't believed to be on the trade block due to his on-ice production.

"I don't think this is a performance issue as much as it's a family issue," Friedman said. "He's away from his family and I think they want to get him closer."

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are partnering with the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, the team announced Saturday.

The Maple Leafs will help support the association's marketing, consult on commercial efforts, and host a game to showcase its players - when Canadian government regulations allow it.

"Over the years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been committed supporters of women’s hockey," team president Brendan Shanahan said.

"Beginning with Brian Burke’s initial support of the now-disbanded CWHL and continuing today, the Maple Leafs stand in support of Jayna Hefford and the PWHPA and recognize their efforts and incredible sacrifice in their determination to form a single, unified, sustainable professional league. Women’s hockey deserves nothing less."

The National Women's Hockey League suspended its season on Wednesday due to COVID-19 concerns.

The PWHPA is made up of approximately 125 of the world's best women hockey players. The league was created to advance fairness, opportunity, and equity in women's pro hockey.

The Leafs are the second NHL team - after the New York Rangers - to partner with the association this season.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL announced schedule changes to 27 games affecting all eight teams in the East Division on Saturday.

All times ET.

The Devils and Sabres have both been hit by COVID-19 outbreaks.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

It's an age-old question in hockey: At which point in the season should we start believing what we're seeing? The answer is usually somewhere between the quarter-way point in mid-November and the halfway mark in late January.

In this truncated season, well ... we might as well cut to the chase. It's Feb. 6, three-and-a-half weeks into a campaign dominated by uncertainty, and we've identified five team trends to take a temperature check on.

Note: Stats are as of Saturday morning.

Real or Mirage: Canadiens' torrid start

Montreal sits second in the North Division with a 7-2-2 record, largely due to the league's best offense (4.18 goals per game).

Matisz: Real. It can be tempting to look for holes in teams fast out of the gate. Doing that with Montreal is overthinking it, though, since both the eye test and underlying numbers suggest the Canadiens are not only in a groove but also a well-built team primed to sustain this early run of success.

Over the past few years, the knock on the Habs has been their inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Offseason moves appear to have fixed the issue, with Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson blitzing the NHL for a combined 16 goals. Three others among the club's versatile forward group - Brendan Gallagher, Nick Suzuki, and Tomas Tatar - have pitched in at least three goals.

That said, pucks won't bounce their way forever. A key player will get hurt. There's always the chance a COVID-19 outbreak derails momentum. There will be a detour of some kind here, but the Canadiens have given us no reason to doubt them thus far, so I'm keeping my seat on the bandwagon.

Wegman: Real. The hot start is no fluke. The Canadiens are one of the league’s deepest teams and boast the NHL’s second-best expected-goals-for percentage at five-on-five. This club will, at worst, finish second in the North Division behind the Toronto Maple Leafs. They have a genuine chance at a deep playoff run.

However, I think their wins will come in a different fashion as the season progresses. Their offense will come down to earth and finish outside the top five. But to offset that regression, Carey Price, who owns a .899 save percentage, will play better.

Real or Mirage: Bruins can contend with current blue line

Boston lost Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara in the offseason and chose to replace them internally, yet the team hasn't missed a beat, sitting third in the league in points percentage at 8-1-2.

Wegman: Mirage. Internally replacing two franchise pillars on defense is mightily impressive - especially considering Matt Grzelcyk has missed six games - but I'm not fully sold.

Charlie McAvoy is a workhorse and will garner Norris Trophy consideration. But behind him is a group of unheralded names playing even minutes (besides McAvoy, no D-man averages more than 19:54 or less than 17:08). Boston's player development staff deserves credit for the progress of Jeremy Lauzon, Jakub Zboril, and others.

However, the Bruins need to add one more defenseman on the left side if they're to take another run at the Stanley Cup while Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand are still elite. Come playoff time, the current group’s lack of experience could get exposed. Ryan Murray makes lots of sense should the Devils choose to be sellers.

Matisz: Real. Admittedly, this topic is the trickiest of the bunch because Krug and Chara's departures hung over this team like a dark cloud coming out of the offseason. The left side of Boston's blue line was suddenly Grzelcyk and … who? This couldn't possibly end well, could it?

The early returns are positive. And it's not just the goaltending tandem of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak that's keeping pucks out of the net. At even strength, Bruins skaters are suppressing shots better than any squad in the NHL. They've shown that a team-wide commitment to defense works.

It's hard to divvy up the credit for this development as the impact of a Norris-caliber season from McAvoy can't be ignored, nor can the contributions from the squad's many two-way forwards. And hey, that left side is doing alright.

Put another way, it doesn't matter if Boston's blue line is filled with difference-makers. At the very least, it's competent, and the rest of the team is capable of compensating. Absolutely, the B's can contend with this defense corps.

Real or Mirage: Canucks' regression

After a strong postseason showing in the summer, Vancouver owns the fourth-worst points percentage in the NHL and the league's second-worst defense (3.93 goals-against per game).

Matisz: Real. And this is no false alarm. It's time to panic in Vancouver.

Already 25% into their schedule, the Canucks look discombobulated, listless. They're a tire fire defensively, J.T. Miller is a shell of his 2019-20 self, and youngsters Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson - while still exceptional players - have failed to level-up in the early stages of their second and third seasons.

That last note is crucial because it winks at how last season's playoff run inflated expectations for this group and its stars. Hughes and Pettersson already shoulder a massive load for the Canucks. How much more can they be reasonably expected to do, especially with goalie Jacob Markstrom gone?

On the bright side, rookie forward Nils Hoglander is a hell of a player.

Wegman: Real. It’s easy to see how much Markstrom masked Vancouver's defensive issues a year ago. The loss of steady blue-liner Chris Tanev has hurt, too. The Canucks own the league’s worst expected goals-against per 60 minutes at five-on-five this season. They finished fifth-worst a year ago.

While this start may cost head coach Travis Green his job, general manager Jim Benning is responsible for this mess. If it weren’t for the egregious contracts he gave to Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel (those four players combine for over $16 million), the Canucks would've been able to support their star-studded core properly.

Real or Mirage: Devils' huge defensive improvement

New Jersey owned the league's fourth-worst defense a year ago, but in its first season under Lindy Ruff, the club's 2.67 goals-against per game is the ninth-best in the NHL.

Wegman: Real. I think the Devils can maintain in the top half of the league in the goals-against category, despite the analytics suggesting they’ve had some luck in that department - ranking 24th in xGA/60 at five-on-five.

Keep in mind, starting netminder Mackenzie Blackwood has played only three games due to COVID-19 protocol. Scott Wedgewood, who was projected to be the team’s No. 3 goalie before Corey Crawford retired, has carried the load between the pipes. Additionally, Nico Hischier, one of the game’s best young, two-way centers, has yet to play.

The Devils should sharpen up defensively as they get healthier and become further accustomed to Ruff's system, although I still think they're a year or two away from playoff contention.

Matisz: Mirage. With due respect to Ruff and the fabulous job he's done behind the bench, this start is hard to wrap your head around. It's fishy.

Despite being an improvement over 2019-20, New Jersey's defense corps of Damon Severson, P.K. Subban, Ryan Murray, Dmitry Kulikov, Ty Smith, and Matt Tennyson doesn't strike fear into opponents. Ditto for the three-headed goalie monster of Blackwood, Wedgewood, and Eric Comrie.

Severson's a stud. Blackwood and Smith are budding stars. Subban, Murray, and Comrie bring value. This means the Devils could definitely finish 2020-21 in the Top 20 in team defense, thus improving their '19-20 results.

But a top-five defense? Highly unlikely. Top 10? I'd bet against that too.

I'm happy to be proven wrong, but, based on the personnel and the natural ebbs and flows of a season, I'm confident the Devils will hit a wall in the meaty part of the schedule. Larger sample sizes weed out statistical anomalies.

Real or Mirage: Stars are still elite

Despite the possibility of a Stanley Cup Final hangover and starting the season without Tyler Seguin or Ben Bishop, Dallas (5-2-1) ranks eighth in the league in points percentage.

Matisz: Mirage. Given how few games they've played (only eight due to COVID-19-related delays) and how uncharacteristically explosive they've been (a whopping four goals per contest), I must stick with my preseason opinion - Dallas is a cut below the NHL's surefire contenders.

The Stars are a very good, battle-tested club. They showed us that in the bubbled postseason, as the wins kept piling up despite player after player going down with an injury. However, I'd wager it was closer to a perfect storm than a repeatable performance, and it doesn't feel like this Stars crew - largely intact following the trip to the Cup Final - has another deep run in them.

In the Central Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes are stronger. So, with the caveat that anything can happen in regards to the coronavirus affecting rosters, the Stars will have a difficult time making noise.

Wegman: Mirage. What the Stars have done in the early going of the season is impressive - especially without Seguin - but I still wouldn’t place them among the league’s elite teams. Their hot start has been buoyed by a completely unsustainable 40% power play - tied for best in the league. Joe Pavelski, 36, is averaging nearly two points per game, which isn't going to last. The Stars are still a playoff team, but I don’t see them as a legitimate Stanley Cup threat, despite how close they got last season.

(Analytics source: Natural Stat Trick)

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

As if there weren't enough prop bets to tackle in Super Bowl LV, theScore Bet has released a host of cross-sport props to take advantage of - if you're willing to test your knowledge across multiple sports.

If not, we've done the legwork for you. Here are our favorite cross-sport props and where we lean on each.

(All events on Feb. 7 unless noted otherwise.)

Nikola Jokic + Jamal Murray points (2/6/21) vs. Super Bowl total points after 3 quarters

The Denver Nuggets haven't played their best basketball this year, but their two stars have - Jokic is averaging a career-high 26.1 points, and Murray is scoring 19 points per game as the second option. That adds up to almost exactly 3.5 points more than what you expect through three quarters on Sunday. To help matters, they play the Sacramento Kings, who have the worst defense in the NBA.

Pick: Jokic + Murray -3.5 (-110)

Nuggets points (2/6/21) vs. Tyreek Hill receiving yards

Denver boasts a top-five offense and is averaging 115.5 points per game. And, as mentioned above, Sacramento's defense ranks dead last in defensive rating and is allowing 121.1 points per game. Hill's receiving prop (94.5) is climbing by the minute, but he'd still have to have a monster game to win this bet. Don't expect the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense to let him do what he did last time these two teams squared off.

Pick: Nuggets -24.5

Kevin Durant points (2/6) vs. Chiefs points

The beauty of this prop is its simplicity. Durant is averaging 30.8 points this year, and the Kansas City Chiefs have averaged 29.6 points this year and are priced at 30.5 on Sunday. Both face a tough test defensively, though the floor feels safer with Durant, who's scored less than 28 points just three times through 17 games.

Pick: Durant -0.5 (-110)

Liverpool + Manchester City goals vs. Patrick Mahomes + Tom Brady touchdown passes

You have to go all the way back to Oct. 17 to find the last time Liverpool allowed more than a goal in a Premier League match at Anfield, while Manchester City have recorded six successive league clean sheets and eight in their last nine. The reverse fixture between these two sides ended 1-1, with a similarly tight encounter expected Sunday. That's a long way from the number of passing touchdowns we'll see in the Super Bowl. Four should be the floor here, with five or six more likely. Lay it all day long.

Pick: Mahomes + Brady TD passes -1.5 (-185)

Iowa men's basketball points vs. Travis Kelce receiving yards

Kelce has been on an absolute tear during the second half of the year, averaging 114 receiving yards per game since Week 8 with a combined 227 in two playoff games. Iowa's offense has been cooking, too, but it hasn't scored 100 points since Dec. 13 despite ridiculous efficiency, and it faces a slow-tempo team in Indiana. This should be a landslide for Kelce.

Pick: Kelce -4.5 (-150)

Phoenix Open winner final-round birdies vs. Travis Kelce receptions

If you thought Kelce's receiving yards were impressive, he's averaged 11.4 receptions in his last 10 games, with at least 10 catches in all but one of them. The middle of the field should be open for him on Sunday, and unless prime Tiger Woods is walking the course in the final round, Kelce's total should be too much to overcome.

Pick: Kelce -1.5 (-125)

LaMelo Ball points + rebounds + assists vs. combined 1st-half points

Can anyone stop Ball? The Charlotte Hornets rookie is averaging 19.8 points in his last four games - which include his first two starts of the season - and he's tallied a combined average of 32 points, rebounds, and assists in that span. That's well over the first-half total of 27.5 for the Super Bowl. Give us the rookie.

Pick: Ball -0.5 (Even)

Blackhawks goals vs. Chiefs FGs made

The Chiefs are attempting 1.78 field goals per game this season and have kicked five in two playoff contests. The Buccaneers are the stingiest red-zone defense they've faced yet, so two feels like a relatively safe assumption here. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks are managing just 2.41 expected goals per 60 minutes this season, and the Dallas Stars are allowing an even stingier 2.22. The Blackhawks have scored just once in each of their last two visits to Dallas, so don't expect them to light the lamp on Sunday. A tie is the likeliest outcome here, so getting +120 is great value.

Pick: Chiefs FGs made +0.5 (+120)

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.