Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Mike Babcock denied allegations made by a podcast Tuesday that he forced players to show them photos on their phones and then projected them onto a larger screen.

Paul Bissonnette, the former NHLer and current TV analyst and host of "Spittin' Chiclets," mentioned claims from an anonymous player about Babcock previously making the request and a recent one pertaining to the Blue Jackets.

"This player who texted me said he has about 20 stories exactly like the one I'm about to tell you ... (Babcock) called in players from his team and he'll say, 'Let me see your phone. Open up your photos and I want to see who you are as a person,'" Bissonnette said on Tuesday's show.

"So the players in the past have obviously handed over their phone, they plug it in - I think the video coach plugs it in - and then they bring it up on a flatscreen and he goes through the camera roll on your phone."

Bissonnette said one of the first things Babcock did upon getting to Columbus was ask team captain Boone Jenner to show the bench boss his phone for that reason.

Later on Tuesday, Babcock acknowledged requesting photos from players but denied how the process was portrayed on the podcast.

"While meeting with our players and staff I asked them to share, off their phones, family pictures as part of the process of getting to know them better," the head coach said in a statement. "There was absolutely nothing more to it than that.

"The way this was portrayed on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast was a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive. These meetings have been very important and beneficial, not only for me but for our players and staff as well, and to have them depicted like this is irresponsible and completely inaccurate."

Jenner said Babcock asked for family photos, which he says they exchanged, and the player characterized their first encounter as a positive one.

"While meeting with Babs he asked me about my family and where I'm from, my upcoming wedding and hockey-related stuff," Jenner said in a statement of his own. "He then asked if I had pictures of my family and I was happy to share some with him. He showed me pictures of his family.

"I thought it was a great first meeting and good way for us to start to build a relationship. To have this blown out of proportion is truly disappointing.”

Bissonnette responded emphatically and skeptically to the statements from Babcock and Jenner, claiming he's "had tons of players confirm" the version of the events he described.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed both the league and the NHLPA looked into the matter, according to NHL.com's Nick Cotsonika. Daly said Bissonnette's characterization of what occurred "isn't consistent" with what players are telling the players' association and added none of them felt their interactions with Babcock were inappropriate.

The Blue Jackets hired Babcock on July 1 after firing Brad Larsen in April. Babcock had been out of the NHL - coaching at the University of Saskatchewan before resigning after one season - since November 2019, when the Toronto Maple Leafs fired him.

Babcock has an apparent history of humiliating players. Mitch Marner confirmed in 2019 that when he was a rookie with the Leafs, Babcock asked him to rank his teammates based on work ethic, and the head coach later shared the list with the team.

Chris Chelios claimed on "Spittin' Chiclets" in 2019 that Babcock berated Johan Franzen to the point where the Detroit Red Wings forward had a nervous breakdown during the 2012 playoffs.

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Could the third time be the charm for the NHL in Atlanta?

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league doesn't have any imminent relocation or expansion plans, but it believes the Georgia capital could be a viable location for a new team 12 years after the Thrashers moved to Canada.

"I think some of the challenges that we've seen in the past in Atlanta can be overcome," Daly told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski on Tuesday.

He added: "I think times have changed pretty dramatically and the market demographics have changed pretty dramatically since the first time we went there and then again in 1999. I think a lot of bigger businesses are in Atlanta (now)."

The NHL first ventured to Atlanta in 1972, where the Flames played until 1980 before relocating to Calgary. The Thrashers entered the league in 1999 but became the Winnipeg Jets in 2011.

The recent success of the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken - the NHL's 31st and 32nd teams - has generated more interest from potential owners, Daly noted.

"There are potential markets that may be suitable for NHL hockey, so our policy is really an open-door policy," he said. "If you are interested and have a plan, come see us and certainly we'll evaluate it from there. If it becomes something our owners are interested in, we can pursue it. Nothing has risen to that level currently, but that could change."

Daly pointed to the Atlanta Braves' 2017 move from near downtown Atlanta to suburban Cobb County as a model the NHL could borrow.

"I also think that rink location will be important with any decision to locate a franchise in Atlanta," he said. "I think if you use the Braves as an example, they struggled, as I understand it, attendance-wise for years, even though they had a very successful team on the field. Their latest stadium is in a perfect location and sells out regularly."

Salt Lake City has also been tabbed as a potential future NHL destination after Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith said in June that he's keen on bringing a franchise to the area. His comments came in the wake of the Arizona Coyotes' failed bid to secure a new arena deal in Tempe, an issue that has yet to be resolved.

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The Colorado Avalanche signed Tomas Tatar to a one-year contract Tuesday, the team announced.

The pact is worth $1.5 million, reports The Athletic's Peter Baugh.

Tatar scored 20 goals for the seventh time in his 12-year career last season for the New Jersey Devils. He added 28 assists and averaged 15:07 of ice time while playing all 82 games for the fourth time.

The veteran forward, who turns 33 on Dec. 1, spent the last two campaigns with the Devils. He played the previous three with the Montreal Canadiens after splitting the 2017-18 season between the Detroit Red Wings and Vegas Golden Knights.

The Golden Knights shipped him to Montreal in the trade that also sent Nick Suzuki to the Habs and Max Pacioretty to Vegas.

Detroit traded Tatar to the Golden Knights for three draft picks in February 2018. The Slovakian winger played his first six seasons with the Wings, and then 62 games in the next campaign before they traded him to Vegas. Detroit drafted him 60th overall in 2009.

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The Winnipeg Jets handed Adam Lowry the "C" on Tuesday, making him the 10th captain in franchise history and the third since they relocated from Atlanta.

Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey will remain alternate captains for the Jets.

Lowry is entering his 10th season with the club, which stripped Blake Wheeler of the captaincy last September. The Jets then bought out Wheeler's contract June 30.

Wheeler had been Winnipeg's captain since 2016. He succeeded Andrew Ladd, who the then-Atlanta Thrashers named captain in 2010 before moving to Winnipeg prior to the 2011-12 season.

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A whopping 11 players hit the 100-point plateau last season, and we think the not-so-exclusive club will admit even more members in 2023-24. Yeehaw!

We've broken out our crystal ball and tarot cards (that's a thing, right?) to guess the top five scorers of the new season about seven months in advance. The picture was a little cloudy, so please don't be too mad if we're wrong - we are but novices in the future-predicting game.

Let's get started.

Honorable mention: Erik Karlsson 🐧

2022-23:

We know it's highly doubtful that Karlsson will post back-to-back 100-point seasons as a defenseman - Paul Coffey was the last to do it in 1988-89 and 1989-90 - but this exercise is supposed to be fun, right? The podium of this list is filled with the usual suspects, so we're trying to keep it fresh with one honorable mention - sue us.

The reigning Norris Trophy winner became the first blue-liner to hit the 100-point mark in a single season since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. And Karlsson pulled it off on a crappy San Jose Sharks squad that tanked its merry way to the bottom of the league's standings. Karlsson is now taking his skills to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who - let's face it - are more well-endowed in the talent department than the Sharks.

Instead of Karlsson's most common teammates on the ice being Tomas Hertl, Jaycob Megna, and Logan Couture, he'll now share the frozen sheet with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, and Kris Letang. He'll also likely take over duties on Pittsburgh's top power-play unit. Despite an improved supporting cast, Karlsson won't end the season as one of the top five scorers. However, he's got a shot to lead all blue-liners in points for the second campaign in a row.

5. Jason Robertson 🌟

2022-23:

Excuse this admittedly very tacky pun, but Robertson is the Dallas Stars' biggest ... star, and we expect astronomical things from him in 2023-24.

That might not seem fair given that Robertson just enjoyed a career year that saw him hit the 100-point mark for the first time, but the young talent has a knack for outdoing himself. In each of the last two campaigns, he's seen his offensive output increase by at least 30 points from the previous season. Oh, and he's coming off his second consecutive 40-goal campaign. Oh, and he's only 24 years old.

You may wonder why we opted to put Robertson on this list over, say, Boston Bruins sniper David Pastrnak or Tampa Bay Lightning stud Nikita Kucherov, considering both had four more points than him last season. It wasn't an easy decision, but the argument is sound. Pastrnak will no longer have Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to play with in 2023-24, while Robertson will again be rocking with Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz to form Dallas' dynamite top line. Kucherov averaged more than one full minute of ice time per game than Robertson last season, but the Stars winger beat him in points per 60 minutes (4.23) at all strengths.

4. Matthew Tkachuk 😼

2022-23 stats:

Tkachuk was arguably the most electrifying skater in the playoffs, so we'll ride the hot hand and bank on him to carry that momentum into the 2023-24 regular season.

The talented agitator is three months removed from ranking third in postseason scoring with 24 points in 20 games. He also led the league with four game-deciding goals, three of which were overtime winners. Determining the "clutch gene" isn't an exact science, but it's clear that Tkachuk has it in spades. Playoffs aside, putting Tkachuk on this list shouldn't raise any eyebrows. He's coming off his second consecutive 100-point campaign and was named a Hart Trophy finalist for the first time in his career.

Tkachuk clearly didn't need any time to adjust to his new surroundings, posting the second-most productive season in Florida Panthers history during his first year in the Sunshine State (trailing only Jonathan Huberdeau's 115-point campaign in 2021-22). And now we're excited to see what steps he takes in Year 2 after tying Robertson for sixth place in the scoring race in 2022-23. Tkachuk has spent his offseason recovering from a broken sternum sustained in the playoffs. He can certainly crack the top five if the injury doesn't hold him back.

3. Nathan MacKinnon ⛰️

2022-23 stats:

A 100-point season had previously eluded MacKinnon, but he only needed 71 games to accomplish the feat in 2022-23. That's just efficient, epic stuff from the 2022 Stanley Cup champion.

MacKinnon posted the league's third-highest point-per-game clip last season - trailing only that pair of Edmonton Oilers freaks - and it's the fifth-best rate in a single season in Colorado Avalanche history when accounting for players who skated in at least 20 games. Since MacKinnon's first point-per-game season in 2017-18, his 553 points (including 366 at even strength) in 409 contests are the third most in the NHL. He's been unbelievably, terrifyingly consistent, and it's for that reason he cracks the podium of this list.

The 28-year-old will be the highest-paid player in the league in 2023-24 now that his eight-year, $100.8-million extension is set to kick in. It might seem impossible since he's already so good, but we feel pretty safe saying MacKinnon will find a way to elevate his game further to match his new price tag. We wouldn't be surprised if he hits the 50-goal mark this season for the first time in his career.

2. Leon Draisaitl 🎯

2022-23 stats:

Between Draisaitl and the first-place guy on this list (who could it be?!), the Art Ross Trophy is almost definitely staying in Edmonton for the fifth straight season in 2023-24.

The German superstar has finished in the top five in league scoring for five seasons running, and we bet that he's about to make it six. Draisaitl reached a new level last campaign, potting a career-high 128 points, which would be a team high on any other squad except his own. Poor guy, but he's probably used to that by now.

Almost exactly half of Draisaitl's points and all but 20 of his goals came on the power play in 2022-23 as Edmonton set a single-season record with a 32.4% success rate on the man advantage. As long as the Oilers continue to draw penalties and he doesn't lose his marksman touch, there's no reason Draisaitl can't hit the 50-goal and 100-point plateaus for the third straight campaign. However, wrestling the Art Ross Trophy from the No. 1 player on these rankings is an entirely different story.

1. Connor McDavid 🚀

2022-23 stats:

The "scoring race" is more or less a battle for second place by this point. Apologies to the also-rans on this list, but it's true. We'd like to extend an early congratulations to McDavid for winning the 2023-24 Art Ross Trophy and maybe all of the scoring titles for the foreseeable future.

What other choice do we have? You'd be hard-pressed to find a single soul who didn't expect him to win his third consecutive Art Ross Trophy in 2022-23. But the Oilers superstar went ahead and shattered his already lofty expectations by becoming the first player to hit the 150-point mark since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. Oh, and he added world-beating goal-scorer to his list of skills by picking up his first Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy while eclipsing his previous career high in goals by a whopping 20 tallies. No biggie.

What everyone should be learning every year with McDavid is never to doubt the heights he can reach, seeing as he's constantly re-establishing his own bar. Will he become just the third skater in NHL history to hit the 160-point plateau in the new season? Probably, if he stays healthy. Seventy goals aren't out of the question, either - he only missed it by six last campaign. At the very least, if McDavid posts his second consecutive 150-point season in 2023-24, he'll become the third-fastest skater to hit 1,000 career points, trailing only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

Just missed the cut:

• Jack Hughes, Devils
• Nikita Kucherov, Lightning
• David Pastrnak, Bruins
• Mikko Rantanen, Avalanche

(Advanced stats source: Evolving-Hockey, Natural Stat Trick)

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New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello confirmed unsigned veteran Zach Parise won't be with the club for training camp this month but didn't rule out reuniting with the winger later in the season.

"Zach will be with his family," Lamoriello told NHL.com. "We will see how the rest of the season goes, but right now, it's important for him to be there. He's spent a couple of years away, and so that is the decision at this point."

He added: "To my knowledge, he is not retiring. In fact, I don't feel he will at this point."

Parise acknowledged his uncertain future after New York was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes, saying he'd likely play for the Islanders or retire.

The 39-year-old hit unrestricted free agency this summer after signing one-year deals with the Islanders each of the past two seasons. Parise was bought out by the Minnesota Wild in the summer of 2021 with four seasons remaining on the monster 13-year, $98-million contract he signed to suit up in his home state in 2012.

The Islanders are roughly $486,000 over the salary cap with just over a month until their first regular season game, according to Cap Friendly.

Parise appeared in all 82 games in both seasons with the Islanders, putting up a combined 69 points.

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