The Minnesota Wild have hired Ray Shero as a senior advisor to general manager Bill Guerin, the team announced Wednesday.

Shero previously served as the GM of the New Jersey Devils from 2015 to 2020, and he held the same role with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2006 to 2014.

Guerin played under Shero in Pittsburgh for parts of two seasons and began his post-playing career as a development coach with the Pens in 2011.

Shero won a Stanley Cup in 2009 and was named GM of the Year after the 2012-13 campaign.

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Winnipeg Jets pivot Mark Scheifele believes the Department of Player Safety cost him a chance to compete with his teammates during their second-round sweep to the Montreal Canadiens.

"I still believe (the suspension) was excessive," Scheifele told reporters Wednesday. "They knock me out of the series, I don't even get a chance to play with my teammates and battle with my teammates in the series. For a guy with a clean record ... I'm just gonna stop talking before I get fined or something like that so I'll just leave it as it is."

He added that the league did his opponent's job of shutting him down for the series.

"Obviously, it's crushing that my season was ended by that and I wasn't able to play in this series," Scheifele said. "I thought I was going to be tried to be shut down by Phillip Danault, but it was the Department of Player Safety that shut me down. So that definitely sucks."

Scheifele was suspended four games for charging Montreal's Jake Evans at the end of Game 1. Evans suffered a concussion on the play.

The 28-year-old will miss the 2021-22 regular-season opener to serve the remainder of the suspension.

The Department of Player Safety wasn't Scheifele's only target during the press conference, as he also took aim at the Winnipeg media for discounting the team earlier in the year.

"We were written off from Day 1 of the season and we proved people wrong all season long," Scheifele said, according to The Athletic's Murat Ates. "We go through that slide towards the end of the year and we were written off again ... We don't get a lot of respect in the grand scheme of things."

The Jets finished third in the North Division with 63 points before sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in Round 1.

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Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche are the NHL's top defensemen finalists for the Norris Trophy.

Fox enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign, finishing second among all blue-liners with 47 points in 55 games. With Fox on the ice at five-on-five, the Rangers scored 57.5% of the goals and 54.3% of the expected goals. Without him, they posted a 49.3% goals share and 44.8% expected goals share.

Hedman is a Norris finalist for a fifth consecutive season, the longest streak since fellow Swede Nicklas Lidstrom's six-year run from 1998-2003. Hedman won the award in 2017-18 and finished third in voting the other three years. The 30-year-old's most recent campaign was arguably his worst during that stretch, as he reportedly played through much of the second half with a shoulder injury that requires offseason surgery. However, he still racked up 45 points - tied for third among defensemen - in 54 contests.

Makar is a finalist despite missing 12 games due to injury. His 44 points were tied for fifth among defensemen and the best on a per game basis. He finished second among qualified blue-liners with a 61.8% expected goals share.

(Analytics courtesy: Natural Stat Trick)

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Toronto residents might not be happy with the CN Tower's choice of colors Tuesday night.

The landmark building, which stands in downtown Toronto, announced that it'll be decked out in red, blue, and white to honor the Montreal Canadiens being the final Canadian team standing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs' longtime rivals swept the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night to secure a spot in the third round of the postseason. The Canadiens previously overcame a 3-1 series deficit to upset the Leafs in Round 1.

The hockey world took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the decision.

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Alex Nedeljkovic is returning to the crease.

The 25-year-old is starting for the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, his club confirmed.

Nedeljkovic started Games 1 and 2 of the series, losing both contests 2-1 before Petr Mrazek took over for the next two. Carolina won Game 3 in overtime but lost Game 4 by a 6-4 margin as Tampa Bay grabbed a 3-1 series lead. Mrazek allowed six goals on 26 shots in Game 4.

The 29-year-old Mrazek has posted a .873 save percentage while surrendering eight goals on 63 shots during this series. Nedeljkovic stopped 41 of the 45 shots he faced in the first two contests for a save percentage of .911.

Nedeljkovic is a finalist for the Calder Trophy - awarded annually to the NHL's top rookie - this season.

The Hurricanes also have a pair of key forwards returning from injury in Game 5.

Vincent Trocheck is back in the lineup after he collided with teammate Warren Foegele in Game 2. Nino Niederreiter is playing for the first time during the second-round matchup. He was a late scratch for Game 1 due to an upper-body ailment. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour had said Niederreiter was "very, very doubtful" to play in Round 2.

Meanwhile, Foegele isn't in the lineup for Game 5. He was hurt in Game 3 and didn't return, then he played 14:25 in Game 4.

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Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has been fined $25,000 for criticizing officials after Game 5 versus the New York Islanders on Monday night, the league announced.

Cassidy implied his second-round opponent gets preferential treatment from the officiating crew.

"I think they sell a narrative over there that it's more like the New York Saints, not the New York Islanders. They play hard, they play the right way, but I feel we're the same way. And the exact calls that are getting called on us do not get called on them, and I don't know why," Cassidy said after the loss.

"Maybe we need to sell them more, flop, but that's not us," he added. "You'd just hope they see them. I mean the same calls go against us. It's not like I'm sitting there going 'well every call against us sucks,' it's not true.

"... They need to be penalized on those plays. They've done a great job selling that narrative that they're clean. ... They commit as many infractions as we do, trust me. It's just a matter of calling them. That's the part that I guess gets frustrating but you play through it."

Boston was penalized four times in the contest, and New York made the most of its opportunities while converting three power-play tallies to take a 3-2 series lead. The Bruins were given two-man advantages in the game.

After taking the hit to his wallet, Cassidy stated he believes what he said was fair.

"We're told before we have to keep our comments civil. I thought it was. They didn't see it that way," the coach said Tuesday, per The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa.

Islanders head coach Barry Trotz was also critical of the officiating after Game 4.

Game 6 is slated for Wednesday in New York.

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Nazem Kadri's eight-game suspension was upheld by a neutral arbitrator, reports TSN's Darren Dreger.

The Colorado Avalanche forward received an eight-game ban after a hit to the head of St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk in Game 2 of the club's first-round series. It marked the sixth suspension of Kadri's career.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman upheld the Department of Player Safety's ruling May 31, prompting the appeal to a neutral arbitrator.

Kadri is eligible to return to Colorado's lineup no sooner than a potential Game 7 versus the Vegas Golden Knights. The series is tied 2-2 with Game 5 scheduled for Tuesday night.

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Tyler Toffoli and the Montreal Canadiens are perfectly content ignoring the detractors of their unlikely playoff run as they await their Round 3 opponent.

"It kind of feels like nobody believes in us," Toffoli said Monday after Montreal completed a second-round sweep of the Winnipeg Jets, according to Sportsnet's Eric Engels. "The only people we have are ourselves and our fans, which clearly - with the small amount of fans in the building it sounded a lot more than what it was - are behind us, and our friends and family.

"We're sticking together. We're playing as one, and we're winning games and having fun."

Toffoli, 29, scored the overtime winner in Game 4 to send the Canadiens to a semifinal series against either the Colorado Avalanche or the Vegas Golden Knights. The electrifying tally cemented a seventh consecutive playoff win for a Montreal team that hasn't trailed for 437:34 - an impressive streak that dates back to Game 4 of the Canadiens' first-round versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"These guys are playing as well as any team has ever played," said Montreal goaltender Carey Price.

The Canadiens thoroughly dominated the Jets in Round 2, outscoring them 14-6 while controlling 52.69% of shot attempts, 58.37% of scoring chances, and 63.74% of expected goals in all situations, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Montreal will be making its first Round 3 appearance since 2014.

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