Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ilya Mikheyev asked for a trade at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season, multiple sources told Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The club made it clear they do not want to accommodate the request and have told Mikheyev they consider him a key part of the team moving forward, Friedman adds.

The 26-year-old put together an impressive rookie campaign in 2019-20, racking up eight goals and 15 assists in 39 games. However, it was cut short after he suffered a significant laceration to his wrist from a skate.

Last season, Mikheyev was largely relegated to a bottom-six role, averaging 14:13 minutes of ice time per game while contributing 17 points in 54 contests.

Entering the upcoming season, Mikheyev could find himself elevated into a top-six role with the departures of left-wingers Zach Hyman and Joe Thornton, but will likely have to compete with new arrivals Nick Ritchie and Michael Bunting for the vacant spot.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs won't have to worry about the NHL's COVID-19 protocols for unvaccinated players this upcoming season.

"It will have zero effect on our team," general manager Kyle Dubas said on the "Bob McCown Podcast" Thursday. "Between players and staff, we'll be 100% vaccinated here right now, so we're good to go. So no impact on us."

The NHL reportedly sent out a memo to the league earlier this month detailing its COVID-19 policies. One of the biggest items is vaccinated players who test positive will be treated by the NHL as having a hockey-related injury in accordance with the league's CBA.

Teams also have the power to ban players who decline to get vaccinated if they can't take part in team activities, and players will be docked pay each day they're away from the club. That ban is extended to unvaccinated players who can't travel to certain cities due to local regulations.

The NHL sent out a memo in August stating that any person whose job requires them to have personal interactions with hockey operations personnel, including players, must be fully vaccinated. Earlier in September, it was estimated that 95% of NHL players were fully vaccinated, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo.

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David Backes is hanging 'em up as a member of the St. Louis Blues.

The 37-year-old signed a one-day contract with the Blues and announced his retirement Thursday.

Backes was a second-round pick by the Blues in 2003 and spent the first 10 seasons of his career in the Gateway City. He was captain for his final five seasons in St. Louis, tying him with Chris Pronger and Barclay Plager as the second-longest-tenured captains in team history behind Brian Sutter.

The rugged 6-foot-3 forward enjoyed immense success with the Blues, averaging 23 goals and 29 assists per 82 games. He also received down-ballot Selke Trophy votes in his final seven seasons with the club, finishing as high as second in 2011-12. Backes ranks seventh on the franchise's all-time games played, goals, and points lists.

He left via free agency in 2016 and spent the final five years of his career with the Boston Bruins and Anaheim Ducks.

On the international stage, Backes was a member of Team USA's Olympic squads in both 2010 and 2014.

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Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will be sidelined for a minimum of six weeks after undergoing a wrist procedure on Wednesday, the team announced.

Crosby, 34, will miss the start of training camp and likely time during the regular season with the league's first game slated for Oct. 12 - five weeks away.

"This is not a new injury for Sid. It is something that he has played through for years," general manager Ron Hextall said. "After exhausting all minimally-invasive options and much discussion, it was decided that surgery was in his best interest."

Hextall added the procedure was done on the left wrist - the same one that Crosby had surgery on last August, according to Trib Sports' Seth Rorabaugh.

Crosby appeared in 55 games last campaign, scoring 24 goals and adding 38 assists.

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With one year left on his contract, Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron isn't thinking too far ahead in regard to his hockey career.

"For me, the way that I approach this year, is I want to concentrate on this year," Bergeron said, per Boston Sports Journal's Conor Ryan. "I have a year left on my contract and I think it would be useless to think about the future."

Bergeron, 36, is entering the final season of the eight-year pact he agreed to with the Bruins in 2013. He's spent his entire NHL career in Boston and will begin his 18th season this upcoming campaign.

Last month, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney began initial discussions with Bergeron and said it's a "completely open door" for how long he wishes to play in Boston.

Bergeron told reporters his main focus is winning a Stanley Cup this upcoming season.

He added: "I'm going to play out this year and talk about that after."

In 1,143 career games with the Bruins, Bergeron has scored 375 goals and added 542 assists. He's been one of the league's premier two-way centers over the last decade. Last season, he recorded 23 goals and 25 assists in 54 contests.

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The Calgary Flames made a pair of moves Wednesday, agreeing with unrestricted free-agent forward Brad Richardson on a one-year, $800,000 contract, and re-signing defenseman Connor Mackey to a two-year pact with a $912,500 cap hit.

Richardson played for Flames head coach Darryl Sutter earlier in his career with the Los Angeles Kings. The 36-year-old was limited to 17 games with the Nashville Predators last season, posting one goal and three assists while averaging 12:16 of ice time per game.

Mackey played most of 2021 with Calgary's AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat. The 24-year-old produced three goals and 13 assists over 27 games at that level while adding one marker and two helpers across six NHL contests with the Flames.

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Given his history, it might seem like Brian Burke isn't a fan of offer sheets. However, he says that's not the case.

The Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations said Tuesday he sought to file an offer sheet for then-Boston Bruins forward Phil Kessel when he was the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager.

"I was prepared to offer sheet Phil Kessel when I (traded for) him in Toronto, and I told the Boston Bruins that," Burke told Sportsnet's Eric Francis. "They were trying to make a deal with the (Los Angeles) Kings and trying to talk to (the) Nashville (Predators), and I said, 'Either you guys make a deal with me or I'm going to offer sheet him.' So they made a deal with me."

In September 2009, the Bruins traded Kessel to the Maple Leafs for a 2010 first-round pick (which Boston used to select Tyler Seguin), a 2011 first-rounder (with which they took Dougie Hamilton), and a 2010 second-round selection.

Two years earlier, when Burke was GM of the Anaheim Ducks, he infamously challenged Edmonton Oilers counterpart Kevin Lowe to a barn fight after the Canadian club signed forward Dustin Penner to a five-year, $21.25-million offer sheet, which Burke ultimately declined to match. Anaheim got three picks from Edmonton as compensation, but Burke clearly wasn't happy about it.

"My anger about it, going back, was I didn't like the player they signed and I didn't like the way they did it," Burke said Tuesday, before acknowledging he understood why Penner signed the offer sheet.

He added: "The fact that the player took advantage of our cap situation and signed an offer sheet we couldn't match made sense."

Similarly, the 66-year-old understands why the recent Jesperi Kotkaniemi situation played out as it did.

Kotkaniemi signed a one-year offer sheet with the Hurricanes worth $6,100,015. Seven days later, Montreal declined to match it, taking first- and third-round selections from Carolina instead and then landing forward Christian Dvorak in a separate deal with the Arizona Coyotes.

"I thought it was a smart move by Carolina to handcuff Montreal, and I think it was a smart move to take the picks, which they managed to flip for a player I think will be useful," Burke said.

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