Erik Karlsson inked a long-term deal with the San Jose Sharks in 2019 in order to chase a Stanley Cup, but the team's struggles have forced management to shift the organization's direction.

General manager Doug Wilson told The Athletic's Kevin Kurz on Friday that the team is in a "reset." Wilson explained that's why the Sharks used all nine of their draft picks this past offseason to replenish the farm system instead of trading them to improve the current roster.

Karlsson is not thrilled about the idea of growing pains.

"Obviously, I did not sign here to go through a rebuild or go through what I did for 10 years in Ottawa," Karlsson said Saturday, according to NHL.com's David Satriano. "But it is what it is. I think that we need to find a way to build with a core group that we have here and figure out a way how to be competitive here in the upcoming years."

After spending nine seasons with the Senators - in which they made the playoffs five times - Karlsson was traded from Ottawa to San Jose in September 2018 for a package involving four players and multiple draft picks. The Sharks made it to the conference finals in Karlsson's first campaign in teal, prompting the Swedish blue-liner to re-sign for eight years at $11.5 million per season.

However, the Sharks plummeted to dead-last in the Western Conference standings last season.

"I mean, I think after the year we had last year, I think it was pretty, pretty clear that we were not going to be the team that we were maybe the first year that I got here," Karlsson said. "You know that doesn't take rocket science to figure out."

San Jose's aging core of Karlsson, Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Logan Couture, and Evander Kane are all 29 years of age or older and signed through at least the 2024-25 season. The club currently sits seventh place in the West Division - seven points back of a playoff spot.

Karlsson has battled injuries since joining the Sharks, missing 47 regular-season games over the past three years. The two-time Norris Trophy winner has registered two goals and seven assists in 21 contests this season.

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

The Buffalo Sabres lost their 10th straight game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, and head coach Ralph Krueger admits the club's struggles have been almost unlike anything he's experienced.

"I've really enjoyed challenges as a leader, but this has been one of the toughest that I've seen," Krueger told reporters after the 3-0 loss.

"We feel like we have a group that's extremely engaged, and we come into a game day like today with a good spirit in the morning, and we set the game up, and somehow, we're just not able to push it over the line offensively."

The Sabres, who last lost 10 straight games in 2014-15, were shut out for the fifth time this season. Buffalo owns a league-worst 6-16-4 record and is very likely to miss the playoffs for the 10th straight campaign.

Despite the team's disappointing season, Krueger remains focused on finding ways to work through the difficult stretch.

"I'm doing fine. The pain you feel, obviously you hate to lose in this profession, so you need to manage that and work through it and work towards solutions when the next game comes at you quickly like it is this season."

The squad is also currently without captain Jack Eichel, who's out for the foreseeable future with an upper-body injury.

Buffalo will look for its first victory since Feb. 23 when it takes on the Washington Capitals on Monday.

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

The NHL's division realignment is only supposed to last through this season, but some Canadian clubs are hoping the North Division can remain intact following the 2020-21 campaign.

"There are at least a couple of the Canadian teams that are still (holding) out hope that the North Division will live beyond this season, that they'll get at least one more year of that," Sportsnet's Chris Johnston reported during Saturday Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada.

A few of the Canadian franchises' executives want to see the excitement surrounding the division when fans are allowed back in arenas, Johnston added.

The North Division was born out of necessity this season due to Canada's border laws amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Commissioner Gary Bettman doesn't envision the temporary realignment sticking around upon the world's return to normalcy.

"We did what we had to do this year, we had no choice if we were going to play," Bettman said Friday during a press conference. "I do believe that we may focus on more divisional play going forward, although I'm not sure if this much divisional play would hold interest for an 82-game schedule. But it's worked well for this year.

"Obviously, I don't envision it continuing ... I think our traditional alignment makes more sense and is more widely accepted."

Part of the North Division's popularity this season has been its high-scoring games and ample star power. The division holds for four of the league's top eight teams in goals per game and five of the NHL's top six point producers.

Keeping the North Division long-term would be difficult to justify from a travel perspective, as its seven teams are spread across four different time zones.

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

Toronto Maple Leafs blue-liner Jake Muzzin believes there are similar traits between his current club and the Los Angeles Kings team he won the Stanley Cup with in 2014.

"It definitely helps when you have great personalities in the room," Muzzin told reporters Saturday. "When it feels like a tight group and kind of like a family atmosphere in there, it's a lot more fun to be a part of. Everyone caring for each other, working for each other, and it helps on the ice when you're trying to set up your teams for success.

"Similar feelings in both rooms that I felt in L.A. and with this group here in Toronto, so it's been a lot of fun, and obviously winning games helps."

Muzzin played with the Kings from 2010-2019 and was an essential part of the club's 2014 Stanley Cup run with six goals and six assists through 26 games.

Toronto, which ranks fifth in points percentage (.714), added several veteran players this offseason, including 41-year-old Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, and TJ Brodie. Muzzin credits some of the fresh faces for bringing the squad closer together and believes their added experience will prove invaluable down the stretch.

"With the guys and the characters that we brought in, it definitely helps," Muzzin said. "... We have some great personalities that want to spend time with all the guys and get guys together, and it brings everyone closer.

"... You want to eliminate the downs and don't get too high when things are going good, so I think we have guys in the room that understand that. They've been around, they've seen seasons and games where situations come and go."

The Leafs begin the second half of their season Saturday with the final tilt of a three-game set against the Winnipeg Jets.

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

New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin is returning to the lineup Saturday against the Boston Bruins after a three-week absence, the team announced.

Panarin stepped away from the Rangers on Feb. 22 after his former KHL head coach, Andrei Nazarov, made an abuse allegation against him. The allegation stemmed from what Nazarov claimed was a physical altercation in 2011 between Panarin and an 18-year-old woman while the forward was playing in the KHL.

The Rangers believe the allegation is a fabrication designed to intimidate Panarin for his political views. Nazarov is a known supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Panarin has been a vocal Putin critic and shown public support for opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Reports have indicated that no evidence, witnesses, or court or police records have been provided to support the allegation. The KHL also said it was never informed of an abuse allegation against Panarin.

Panarin missed nine games while away from the Rangers, who went 4-5-0 during that span. The 29-year-old has amassed five goals and 13 assists in 14 games this season.

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

The Carolina Hurricanes placed defenseman Jake Gardiner on waivers Saturday for the purpose of sending him to their taxi squad, according to team writer Michael Smith.

Gardiner has played only two of the Hurricanes' last eight games, and head coach Rod Brind'Amour said earlier this week the blue-liner has been dealing with a back issue. The move will give the team salary-cap flexibility while Gardiner is out of the lineup, notes Smith.

The 30-year-old rearguard carries a $4.05-million cap hit through 2022-23. He inked a four-year, $16.2-million pact with Carolina in September 2019.

Gardiner is in his second campaign with the Hurricanes after eight with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's collected seven points - all assists - across 17 contests this season.

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

Every NHL season offers players a chance to make a splash.

Roughly halfway through the 2020-21 campaign, there's been no shortage of obscure players assuming key roles on their respective squads. On any given night, a relative nobody has been causing fans outside their market to react to a wild highlight or statistic with some variation of, "Who's that guy!?"

Here, we've identified three forwards, two defensemen, and one goalie who have so far updated their NHL status from "nobody" to "somebody." To create structure, the player pool was limited to those who 1) were drafted after the second round, or not at all, and 2) entered the season with fewer than 500 regular-season minutes played.

(Tantalizing Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov technically qualifies within these parameters. However, we chose to exclude the well-hyped rookie since he was far from an unknown commodity coming into the year.)

Alright, let's get to the squad:

Carter Verhaeghe, Panthers, RW

Whether it was GM Bill Zito, his scouting staff, his analytics staff, or all three, Florida's brain trust deserves a round of applause for the Verhaeghe pickup.

The club brought in the 2013 third-round pick this past offseason on a two-year, $2-million deal after the Lightning opted not to extend a qualifying offer to the forward. Tampa Bay, fresh off winning the Stanley Cup, had exceptional depth at the position and Verhaeghe was the odd man out amid a cap crunch.

The 25-year-old from Toronto has been a stellar sidekick to Aleksander Barkov in south Florida. Verhaeghe has amassed nine goals and nine assists in 26 games on Barkov's right wing, skating for an average of 17:25 per night. As an NHL rookie last year, he pitched in 13 points in 52 games on 9:22 of ice time.

Verhaeghe, who played 36 games in the ECHL and 211 in the AHL before making the jump, is a speedy puck hound with an above-average shot. It takes a certain type of player to mesh with the sport's best - think Zach Hyman of the Maple Leafs and Bryan Rust of the Penguins - and while it's still early, Verhaeghe appears to be that guy for Barkov.

"I didn't think he'd be on our top line. I didn't think we'd be getting that type of production (from Verhaeghe), to be totally honest," Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville told reporters a month ago. "At the same time, we liked the ingredients that he did bring to our team with quickness and perseverance."

Philipp Kurashev, Blackhawks, RW

You knew things were going well for the 21-year-old Kurashev when the Blackhawks shared this joyous image on social media in early February.

You knew things were going really well when Kurashev absolutely schooled the Red Wings en route to a gorgeous game-winning goal a week later. And you knew things were going really, really well when Kurashev fired the puck top corner during a shootout against the Lightning a few weeks after that.

Kurashev is clearly enjoying an eventful rookie season, contributing 10 points in 27 games. At even strength, Chicago's fourth-round pick in 2018 has been mainly lining up with reliable veterans Mattias Janmark and Carl Soderberg on the third line. He's also been used on the second power-play unit.

The kid's a bargain, too. The Blackhawks burned the first year of his entry-level contract by playing him in Rockford of the AHL in 2019-20. But he's got one more year left at an annual cap hit of $842,500.

Kurashev had a head start on the season, dressing in 13 games in the Swiss League before NHL training camp started. More fun facts: he represents Switzerland internationally but also has Russian citizenship; he played three years of Canadian major junior in Quebec City; he's fluent or close to fluent in four languages (English, German, Russian, and French).

Pius Suter, Blackhawks, C

Suter is a combination of the two forwards listed above: He's riding shotgun to a superstar and being showcased by the resurgent 'Hawks.

Suter is currently second among NHL rookies in goals (eight), and his 13 points have him tied for fourth with first-year Stars forward Jason Robertson. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Suter is exchanging passes with Hart Trophy contender Patrick Kane and former 40-goal man Alex DeBrincat on Chicago's top line. He's averaging a healthy 16:26 of ice a night.

"Suter's just getting better and starting to familiarize himself with the NHL game," Kane told reporters last month. "He wins pucks back. He's driving the net really well and creating space for his linemates."

Suter went undrafted, was signed by the Blackhawks in July 2020, and didn't join the team until this January. The 5-foot-11 winger came over from Europe following five productive seasons in Switzerland's pro leagues and a strong showing at the 2018 Olympics, where he collected five points in four games.

It would be a stretch to declare Suter this year's Dominik Kubalik - considering the latter bagged 30 goals in 68 games alongside Kane as a rookie in 2019-20 - yet there's definitely an NHL future for the 24-year-old beyond his expiring entry-level deal. Suter's going to get paid.

Zach Whitecloud, Golden Knights, D

Whitecloud's stats - two goals and four assists - are modest. Below the surface, though, the 6-foot-2 right-hander is having a significant impact, especially on the defensive side. According to Evolving Hockey, his 1.55 goals against per 60 minutes of even-strength play is the 12th-best mark among 140 NHL defensemen who have played at least 300 minutes this season.

Whitecloud has actually appeared in three NHL seasons. The Brandon, Manitoba, native's first year featured just 17 minutes of action in one game, and last season he played only 229 minutes spread across 16 games.

The training wheels are officially off now. The undrafted 24-year-old from Minnesota's Bemidji State University has built off an impressive performance in the bubbled postseason, joining forces with fellow youngster Nic Hague on Vegas' second pairing.

Goal suppression is Whitecloud's bread and butter but he can also jump into the play. He showed flashes of his offensive skill set in two years of college and another two in the AHL, and at a $725,000 hit, he's exactly the kind of cheap labor a cap-strapped team like Vegas desperately needs.

Artem Zub, Senators, D

Beyond the fantastic name, Zub owns productive defensive metrics.

This table displays the leading defensemen in Evolving Hockey's GAR, or goals above replacement (a catch-all metric explained here):

The list is a weird mix of Norris Trophy-caliber blue-liners, second-pair guys, defensive stalwarts, and, randomly, Brendan Smith. Then there's Zub tied with Brett Pesce at 10th.

While GAR isn't a perfect stat, it does recognize the underlying effectiveness of certain players. Senators coach D.J. Smith is deploying Zub in a defense-oriented role alongside depth guy Mike Reilly, and the results are solid seeing as the North Division is filled with elite forwards.

Let's check out the HockeyViz.com heat maps that illustrate how Ottawa has fared defensively when Zub has been on the ice at even strength and shorthanded:

Blue/purple means low shot attempts against and red/orange means high shot attempts against. Put another way, the Senators are keeping the opposition away from the slot when Zub is patrolling the D zone.

Zub, who's 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, has a boatload of high-level experience despite going undrafted. The 25-year-old rookie appeared in parts of six KHL seasons and also won a gold medal in 2018 with the Olympic Athletes from Russia. For Ottawa, he's pitched in six points in 21 games while making $925,000 on a one-year entry-level contract. Not bad.

Kevin Lankinen, Blackhawks, G

Rounding out the All-Nobody team is another undrafted Blackhawks rookie.

Lankinen is arguably the breakout star of the entire season. At 25, he's seizing his first opportunity at claiming an NHL net, owning a 10-4-4 record out of the gate. He's compiled a respectful .919 save percentage in all situations, and a gaudy .939 at even strength. If not for dominant runs from Andrei Vasilevskiy and Marc-Andre Fleury, Lankinen would be firmly in the Vezina Trophy discussion.

Some additional info on Lankinen: the Finn ranks fourth among all NHL goalies in goals saved above average with 8.02, according to Hockey Reference. He's earned 12 quality starts (which are awarded when a goalie stops more than the league's median save percentage) through his first 18 games, and he's an $800,000 cap hit in the first season of a two-year deal.

It was tempting to select Minnesota's Kaapo Kahkonen to fill this goalie spot, but Lankinen's robust body of work is a cut above and too good to ignore.

We'll come to see if these six players can sustain their success over the rest of the season and beyond. And at the team level, with the sample size growing, we'll find out if Chicago really has struck gold with these rookies.

John Matisz is theScore's senior hockey writer. You can follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) and contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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