The defenseman played 26 games with Michigan last campaign, recording three goals while adding 13 assists. He was seen as the consensus first overall pick heading into this year's draft.
It's not often a first overall pick doesn't immediately jump into the NHL the following season. The last player to do so was Erik Johnson in 2006, who played at the University of Minnesota for one year.
Power stands at 6-foot-6 and weighs 213 pounds, which would suggest he's physically ready to play with the pros. He played a prominent role on Team Canada's gold medal-winning team at the IIHF World Championship in June.
The 18-year-old indicated before the draft he was leaning toward returning to Michigan next season regardless of where he was selected, saying he wanted to "get the true experience" of playing college hockey.
A number of the league's top defensemen took similar routes after being drafted, such as Cale Makar, Adam Fox, and Quinn Hughes.
The Blues have been targeting a veteran defenseman on the open market this offseason after losing blue-liner Vince Dunn to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft.
The club also inquired about Ryan Suter before he signed with the Dallas Stars, Rutherford added.
Chara, 44, played with the Washington Capitals last season on a one-year deal and proved he still has what it takes to be a capable defenseman. He averaged 18:19 of ice time per game and racked up 10 points, 88 hits, and 67 blocked shots across 55 contests.
Being close to his family is Chara's top priority in deciding where he'll play next campaign, a source told Rutherford. Chara reportedly chose to sign with the Capitals last season due to the club's proximity to his family, who remain in Boston.
Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment will require all fans, employees, and event staff to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to gain access to its arenas, stadiums, and restaurants, the organization announced Tuesday.
The rules are set to come into effect at some point in mid-September.
"As an organization that hosts more than four million fans per year, at hundreds of events in multiple venues, MLSE is proud to serve as a central gathering place in Toronto and recognizes its responsibility to provide attendees with a safe and secure environment," the statement reads.
MLSE is the parent company that owns the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA's Toronto Raptors, CFL's Toronto Argonauts, and MLS' Toronto FC as well as all of their affiliated farm teams. The company also owns Scotiabank Arena and manages BMO Field.
The decision comes amid rising COVID-19 case numbers across the country and the world. Last week, True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Winnipeg Jets, announced that all employees and fans will need to provide full proof of vaccination in order to attend its entertainment venues.
The NHL will feature advertisements on jerseys starting in the 2022-23 season, ESPN's Greg Wyshynski confirmed Sportico's initial report.
The league surveyed teams and found that the majority were in favor of implementing ads. The move was approved through a formal vote with the board of governors, Wyshynski added.
The ad will need to fit a rectangle that is 3 inches by 3.5 inches, which is slightly larger than the patches NBA teams added to their jerseys in 2017.
Juan Ocampo / National Basketball Association / Getty
Last season, the league allowed teams to place advertisements on the side of players' helmets. The move allowed clubs to recoup a chunk of money that was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Advertisements on jerseys are widespread across the world in most sports but have not generally been implemented in North America. The NBA, WNBA, and MLS have all embraced the idea in recent years.
Fiala had filed for arbitration. He was seeking $6.25 million while the team came in at $4 million, according to Friedman. Fiala will again be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent at the conclusion of the contract, per CapFriendly.
The 25-year-old recorded 20 goals and 20 assists in 50 games this past season. He had a career-best campaign during 2019-20, scoring 23 goals and adding 31 assists in 64 contests.
Minnesota acquired Fiala from the Nashville Predators at the 2019 trade deadline. The former 2014 11th overall pick has appeared in 337 career games while scoring 91 goals and adding 107 assists.
The 26-year-old was a restricted free agent and had filed for arbitration.
Saros has played with the Predators for the last five seasons since being selected by the club in the fourth round of the 2013 NHL Draft. For the majority of his career, he served as the backup to Pekka Rinne but took over as the primary starter over the past two campaigns.
Last season, Saros put together a 21-11-1 record alongside an impressive .927 save percentage and 2.28 goals-against average. He ranked first among all goalies with 24.64 goals saved above average at five-on-five and ranked fourth with a .868 high-danger save percentage.
The Finland native has appeared in 161 career games, managing a .920 save percentage and 2.51 goals-against average. He's projected to be the team's starting goalie for the foreseeable future after Rinne announced his retirement early in the offseason and with top prospect Yaroslav Askarov working his way up to the NHL.
The union warned the players over a lengthy call last week that unvaccinated individuals may face stiff penalties if they contract COVID-19 during the 2021-22 campaign, cautioning that teams could have the power to withhold paychecks while an unvaccinated player is out due to the virus, or if he can't play because of local regulations.
Another issue discussed during the call was whether unvaccinated players would be allowed to enter Canada for games. The NHLPA said it's unlikely they'd receive an exemption to enter the country and would need to stay at home with their salaries withheld.
NHL deputy commissioner Billy Daly said that over 85% of players in the league are fully vaccinated. In comparison, 99% of WNBA players are vaccinated, while the NFL and NBA are at 90%.
The NHL sent a memo to all teams on Friday stating that anyone who works for a club and personally interacts with players must be fully vaccinated.
The NHL's free-agency period opened with a bang in late July, as nearly every team got in on the action. There were numerous big names on the open market, and the majority of them inked new deals right out of the gate.
On Day 1 alone, 96 deals were struck worth a total of $529 million, and many more contracts trickled in over the following days. With so many deals and so much money dished around, there were sure to be a number of surprising moves that caught NHL fans off guard. Let's take a look at five of them.
Ovechkin eyeing Gretzky's record
Patrick McDermott / National Hockey League / Getty
Alex Ovechkin entered the offseason in need of a contract for just the second time in his career. After his entry-level deal with the Washington Capitals expired, he inked a 13-year contract, which he's played on until now. It was a given that the 35-year-old was going to re-sign with the Capitals, but it wasn't known how many years or how much money he'd command. When the deal came in at five years and with a $9.5-million average annual value, many were left shocked.
The Russian sniper will be nearing 41 years old when the deal expires. He hasn't shown any decline yet, and there's no reason to believe he's going to start anytime soon. There's been a looming threat that he'll return to his home country to play in the KHL before he retires from hockey, which caused some to believe his NHL career might have been nearing its end. Now, Ovechkin has at least five more seasons to accumulate 165 goals and break Wayne Gretzky's once seemingly unreachable record.
Perry joins Lightning
Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty
If you can't beat them, join them, right? Corey Perry and the Montreal Canadiens indicated they were interested in striking a deal. However, Perry broke Montreal fans' hearts several days into free agency when he opted to join the Tampa Bay Lightning - the team he lost to in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals.
The move was shocking at first, but blame can't be put on Perry. Following an impressive campaign with the Habs, the Lightning handed him an attractive two-year contract. Tampa Bay gives him a much better chance of winning another Cup over the next two seasons. With the Lightning's top six still intact, Perry will provide a major boost to the third or fourth line.
Grubauer ditches Avalanche
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
With most marquee free-agent goalies having signed in the opening hours of free agency, it appeared Philipp Grubauer would certainly re-up with the Colorado Avalanche. There didn't seem to be many teams left that could afford Grubauer or fit him into their crease until the Seattle Kraken came out of nowhere to scoop him up.
Just a week earlier, Seattle introduced Chris Driedger at the expansion draft and made it clear that he was going to be the starting goalie moving forward. The club had a number of appealing goalie options to choose from during the expansion draft and decided to pair Driedger with Vitek Vanecek and Joey Daccord. Now, it will be interesting to see how playing time is split between Driedger and Grubauer, but the Kraken clearly couldn't pass up the opportunity to own one of the league's best tandems.
Danault cashes in, says 'au revoir' to Montreal
Florence Labelle / National Hockey League / Getty
Between the end of the playoffs and the start of free agency, Phillip Danault and the Canadiens seemed destined to part ways. The two sides agreed that Danault would test free agency, but that the door would remain open for him to return. Many thought he would eventually circle back to Montreal, unsure if a team would break the bank for the defensive pivot on the open market.
Danault wasted no time once free agency opened and put pen to paper on a six-year contract with a $5.5-million average annual value to join the Los Angeles Kings. The length and money were surprising, but the addition suddenly makes the Kings an intriguing team in a weak division. Danault seems like he'll be a perfect fit behind Anze Kopitar in the immediate future, but with young centers Quinton Byfield and Alex Turcotte looking to make the jump to the NHL, his role in the later years of the contract couldn't be more unclear.
Devils reel in Hamilton
Scott Audette / National Hockey League / Getty
Most teams should have lined up to try to recruit Dougie Hamilton as a free agent. It's not often that an elite, two-way defenseman hits the open market at 28 years old. Rumors swirled about where Dougie would end up, but not many had the New Jersey Devils penciled in as the winners of the sweepstakes. New Jersey saw the opportunity to bring in a franchise-altering blue-liner and didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.
The Devils haven't been a model of consistency as of late, missing the playoffs in eight of the last nine seasons. However, the club is certainly on the rise with an injection of youthful talent thanks to a handful of lottery picks over the years. Hamilton could have chosen any of a number of teams, but his faith in the organization is a good sign for the Devils, who will now look to jump back into perennial contention.
The NHL sent out a memo to all of its teams on Friday detailing some of the league's vaccine requirements ahead of the upcoming campaign, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
"Any person whose job, role, position, or access entails or entitles them to have personal interactions (within 12 feet) with club hockey operations personnel (including Players) are required to be fully vaccinated," the statement reads.
There are a limited number of exceptions - such as valet parking attendants, Friedman added. Protocols for the players are not yet complete.
The league had strict rules for players and clubs for the majority of last season but relaxed them for certain squads in May. The protocols were loosened and allowed more freedoms to players and staff on teams that were at least 85% fully vaccinated.
Once a franchise hit the 85% threshold, players were allowed to gather socially outside of team facilities, sit at restaurants outdoors, and spend time in each other's hotel rooms on the road. Players also stopped receiving PCR tests on off days and were allowed to attend team meetings without face coverings.
True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Winnipeg Jets, announced Friday that it's submitted an application to rename a portion of Graham Avenue in honor of the late Dale Hawerchuk.
If approved, Honourary Dale Hawerchuk Way, which would stretch between Donald Street and Carlton Street, is expected to be unveiled in time for the beginning of next season.
Winnipeg Jets PR
The club will also erect a statue of Hawerchuk, who died last August at the age of 57 after a battle with cancer, in True North Square. The statue is expected to be unveiled in August 2022.
Erik Blome, who designed the Wayne Gretzky statue in front of the Staples Center and created the 14 sculptures in the Toronto Maple Leafs' "Legends Row," will design Hawerchuk's statue.
"Dale, quite simply, is part of the fabric of this city and of the Winnipeg Jets organization," executive chairman Mark Chipman said.
"Beyond that, he has contributed so much to the sport of hockey. We are so proud to give Dale these much-deserved honors to showcase his extraordinary career and the remarkable person he was, and ensure his legacy lives well beyond the fans who followed his career and who were lucky enough to see him play."
Hawerchuk was drafted first overall by the Jets in 1981. He played his first nine seasons in the league with Winnipeg, winning the Calder Trophy in 1982. Hawerchuk then joined the Buffalo Sabres for five seasons before wrapping up his career with the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers.
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001, Hawerchuk produced 1,409 points in 1,188 career games.
