The Chicago Blackhawks placed veteran Corey Perry on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract, the team announced Tuesday.

"After an internal investigation, the Chicago Blackhawks have determined that Corey Perry has engaged in conduct that is unacceptable and in violation of both the terms of his standard player's contract and the Blackhawks' internal policies intended to promote professional and safe work environments," the organization wrote in a statement, per the Chicago Sun-Times' Ben Pope.

Several hours after the club issued the statement, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said the incident in question was a workplace matter, not a criminal one.

He also said no other players or their families were involved, despite speculation to the contrary.

Davidson's full remarks can be viewed via CHGO Blackhawks.

The GM said Saturday that Perry would be away from the Blackhawks for the "foreseeable future," adding that the forward's absence was a team decision. Perry's agent, Pat Morris, followed up by saying his client had stepped away from the team "to attend to personal matters."

Chicago first made Perry a healthy scratch versus the Columbus Blue Jackets this past Wednesday for what head coach Luke Richardson dubbed "organizational" reasons.

Chicago signed Perry to a one-year, $4-million deal after acquiring his rights from the Tampa Bay Lightning in an offseason trade.

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Pierre Dorion's time with the Ottawa Senators certainly wasn't boring.

The now ex-general manager's tenure featured numerous sagas, several blockbuster trades, and one kiboshed deal that was his undoing. He also put his foot in his mouth on occasion (figuratively), raising expectations in the process.

Through all the headlines he either caused directly or at least played a part in generating, Dorion's tenure as Bryan Murray's successor lasted from April 10, 2016, until Wednesday. Only six of the 31 current NHL GMs have been in their positions longer than Dorion was, so he became a surprising example of longevity at the executive level - especially considering everything that happened on his watch.

Here are seven things that defined Dorion's eventful seven-plus years as Senators GM:

The Evgenii Dadonov debacle

We should probably start by addressing the elephant in the room - and it's a pretty sizable one.

Hours before announcing Dorion's departure, the Senators were docked a first-round pick for their mishandling of an invalidated 2022 trade that would've sent veteran forward Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks from the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Senators failed to inform Vegas of Dadonov's 10-team no-trade list when they sent him to the Pacific Division club during the 2021 offseason. Neither the Ducks nor the Golden Knights were sanctioned for their part in the blunder.

After inheriting a 73-page report on the matter, new Senators owner Michael Andlauer said Wednesday that the failed trade fiasco could be considered Dorion's last straw.

"We were negligent in nature, and our duty of care was ignored, which set off events that embarrassed the league and pissed off two other NHL clubs," Andlauer said. "As a member of this league, we have to be held accountable for our actions."

He added, "Ultimately, this could have been avoided. The accountability is on our hockey club. Pierre was ultimately responsible for the hockey operations of this club."

The Erik Karlsson trade

The hockey world recently put up with months of Karlsson trade speculation before the San Jose Sharks shipped him to the Pittsburgh Penguins in August. But the deal that sent the former Senators franchise fixture to San Jose about five years earlier was a monumental moment in the Sens' history and, as such, a key component of Dorion's legacy.

Ottawa had been unable to come to terms with Karlsson - the club's captain - on a new contract, reportedly offering him an extension worth $10 million per season on July 1, 2018. Karlsson wasn't interested, so Dorion made him available and dealt him to the Sharks two months later.

The Senators got a huge haul in the swap. They landed the rights to Josh Norris and the conditional draft pick (third overall in 2020) they used to select Tim Stutzle, while also reeling in three other players and two other picks. Stutzle has since blossomed into a cornerstone in his own right, while Norris is now a valued piece of Ottawa's core who's been productive when healthy.

Dorion allowed the Karlsson situation to reach a boiling point, and that reflects poorly on the ex-GM, especially in light of the Swede's Norris Trophy-winning 2022-23 season. But after it became clear the all-world blue-liner's days in Ottawa were numbered, at least Dorion managed to get not one but two pieces of what is now the team's promising core in return.

'The rebuild is done'

Ah yes, who could ever forget Dorion's rallying cry?

"The rebuild is done. Now we're stepping into another zone."

The executive made that declaration on Sept. 7, 2021 - the same day that the club signed him to a brand-new extension. Have the Senators made the playoffs since he said it? No. But his proclamation did foreshadow a pair of busy offseasons in 2022 and 2023, so at least he held up his end of the bargain.

The 2022 offseason was rightfully dubbed the "Summer of Pierre" after Dorion made a plethora of moves to bolster his club, including signing veteran forward Claude Giroux, two-time 40-goal-scorer Alex DeBrincat, and netminder Cam Talbot. Dorion then went on to win the Jakob Chychrun sweepstakes in March, but the moves wouldn't be enough as the Senators finished six points out of the playoff picture.

The 2023 offseason didn't have a cool, Dorion-themed nickname, but the general manager was presumably still glued to his phone. This time, he attempted to stabilize the crease by bringing in Joonas Korpisalo and mitigated the inevitable loss of DeBrincat by signing sniper Vladimir Tarasenko. It remains to be seen if Dorion's final additions will be enough to get the Senators over the hump.

Dishing out deals to the young core

For all the criticism Dorion rightfully received, one thing for which he should be commended is how many members of the team's core he signed to long-term deals:

There's bound to be some regret when inking this many players to max term or just downright lengthy pacts - whether declining performance or injuries ultimately play a role. But by going long on term, Dorion undoubtedly brought the average annual values down, allowing him to fit them all under the salary-cap ceiling.

Of course, that did come back to haunt Dorion when he suddenly lacked the cap space necessary to re-sign soon-to-be 23-year-old Shane Pinto (before the forward's 41-game suspension for betting violations) prior to the start of this season. Dorion has also made some signing blunders, most notably giving forward Colin White a six-year pact at $4.75 million annually and signing goaltender Matt Murray to a four-year agreement at $6.25 million per campaign.

But for the most part, the former GM does deserve credit for locking in the vast majority of the team's stable of younger talent for the long haul.

A pair of Matt Duchene trades

Picture this: It's the 2017-18 season, and the Senators just missed out on the Stanley Cup Final by one goal a few months prior. Enter Matt Duchene, who was disgruntled with the Colorado Avalanche and hungry for a playoff run.

Ottawa acquired his services in November 2017 as part of a three-team trade with the Nashville Predators in exchange for a first-round pick, a third-rounder, Shane Bowers, Andrew Hammond, and Kyle Turris. That’s a steep price to pay for the absolute nosedive that followed. The Senators ended the 2017-18 campaign in 30th place. Even worse, the Avalanche used that first-rounder to draft defenseman Bowen Byram fourth overall in 2019. Ouch.

Dorion fared better in his second Duchene trade, but he still didn't ace it. As Ottawa began hemorrhaging its star players, the Senators traded Duchene (and rearguard Julius Bergman) to the Columbus Blue Jackets prior to the 2019 trade deadline in exchange for prospects Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson, as well as a first-round pick, which Ottawa used on defenseman Lassi Thomson. Though Abramov and Davidsson didn't pan out, it was an OK return for Duchene, who wasn't keen on staying with the Senators through a rebuild.

Ottawa would have received an additional first-rounder if Duchene re-signed in Columbus, but unfortunately for Dorion, that didn't happen. Duchene helped the Jackets sweep the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2019 playoffs, but he ended up signing with the Predators as a free agent. He enjoyed one standout season in 2021-22 since leaving the Senators, but Nashville ended up buying out the last three seasons of his contract in June.

The Mika Zibanejad swap

Making his first big splash as general manager, Dorion sent center Zibanejad and a second-round pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Derick Brassard and a seventh-rounder in July 2016.

Zibanejad was 22 years old at the time and was just coming off his second consecutive 20-goal season. He had one year remaining on his deal and was due a significant raise on his $2.625-million cap hit. Brassard, meanwhile, had three seasons left on a five-year pact with an average annual value of $5 million, but the contract was front-loaded and would only cost Ottawa $3.5 million in salary in each of the last two campaigns.

In his first season with Ottawa in 2016-17, Brassard put up 11 points in 19 playoff games while helping the team make the Eastern Conference Final - the first and only time the Senators made the playoffs under Dorion's guidance. Ottawa traded Brassard to the Pittsburgh Penguins midway through the 2017-18 season for a package that included goalie Filip Gustavsson and a first-round pick, which the Senators eventually used on defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker. Like Thomson, Bernard-Docker is also trying to find some staying power in the NHL.

Zibanejad, meanwhile, has established himself as a stud of a first-line center in the Big Apple and is coming off a career year in which he put up 91 points in 82 games. The Rangers are now a top threat in the Metropolitan Division and made the Eastern Conference Final in 2022.

With seven years to look back on, we'd say the Rangers handily won this trade.

The Mark Stone trade

Not even one full season after the Karlsson trade, the Senators shipped out another longtime impact player. Leading up to the 2018-19 trade deadline, Stone's inevitable departure became increasingly likely. Dorion provided closure by sending him to the Golden Knights along with forward Tobias Lindberg for defensive prospect Erik Brannstrom, a 2020 second-rounder (with which Ottawa selected young winger Egor Sokolov), and veteran forward Oscar Lindberg.

Much like Karlsson's nine memorable seasons with the Sens, Stone enjoyed five productive fuller campaigns of his own with Ottawa and parts of two others before being dealt away. The difference between this trade and that of Karlsson was that Dorion failed to acquire much in return for Stone. Brannstrom is only 24 now, but he's still trying to reach his potential. Sokolov is only 23, but he's playing in the AHL and has suited up for only 13 NHL games since the trade.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights named Stone their first captain in franchise history in January 2021, and the two-way stalwart helped Vegas win the Stanley Cup last season with 24 points in 22 postseason contests. To say the Stone trade was a devastating one for Dorion and the Senators would be an understatement.

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Matthew Tkachuk notched a hat trick and added a pair of assists to lead the Atlantic Division to a 10-6 victory over the Metropolitan Division in the second NHL All-Star semifinal Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Nathan MacKinnon and Clayton Keller both chipped in two goals to help the Central Division edge the Pacific 6-4 in the first semifinal.

The Central held a 5-2 lead late in the final period, but Elias Pettersson and Erik Karlsson both scored to cut the deficit to one. Keller ultimately put the game out of reach with a dagger to book the Central's ticket to the final.

Vladimir Tarasenko led all skaters with a four-point performance, while Keller and Seth Jones each put up three-point efforts.

The Pacific Division had a step on the Central early on in the contest, and Connor Hellebuyck had to stand tall with a breakaway stop on Bo Horvat.

However, MacKinnon would break the ice just over three minutes in with his first-ever All-Star Game goal. Connor McDavid scored for the Pacific just 33 seconds later, but the Central held a 3-2 edge heading into the intermission.

Keller bookended the final frame, scoring 18 seconds into the period and then with 1:53 remaining in the matchup.

Pettersson was the Pacific's top performer with two tallies. He had another goal overturned following an offside review.

Juuse Saros was tremendous after he came in for the second period, making 11 saves on 13 shots to help lift the Central to victory.

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The Vancouver Canucks dismissed head coach Bruce Boudreau and hired Rick Tocchet in his stead, the team announced Sunday.

Tocchet, who's now the 21st bench boss in franchise history, is joined by assistant coach Adam Foote and defensive development coach Sergei Gonchar. Assistant coach Trent Cull was also relieved of his duties.

"We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Bruce and Trent for their contributions to this organization," general manager Patrik Allvin said in a press release. "We appreciate their dedication and wish them nothing but the best moving forward. This was not an easy decision to make but one that we felt was necessary for this franchise."

Tocchet was most recently the head coach of the 2020-21 Arizona Coyotes, who finished in fifth place of the realigned West Division with a record of 24-26-6 during the pandemic-shortened campaign. He and the Coyotes mutually agreed to part ways at the conclusion of that season.

He joined TNT as an analyst at the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign.

"Rick Tocchet brings a wealth of knowledge to this team from both a coach and player perspective," Allvin said. "He has had more than two decades of coaching experience, guiding teams of various styles."

Tocchet compiled an all-time coaching record of 178-200-60 over six seasons, including four in the desert. Two of his teams (the Coyotes in 2018-19 and 2019-20) finished their campaigns over .500.

The 58-year-old has only made the playoffs once, losing in the opening round to the Colorado Avalanche in 2020 after eliminating the Nashville Predators in the qualifying round.

Tocchet began his NHL head coaching career with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008-09. He won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017 as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Canucks have struggled mightily this season and lost 10 of their last 12 games. They occupy sixth place in the Pacific Division at 18-25-3 and sit 14 points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Vancouver went 50-40-13 with Boudreau at the helm. He led the Canucks to a stunning turnaround last season after taking over for the fired Travis Green in December 2021. They went 32-15-10 after the coaching change and only missed the playoffs by five points.

The 68-year-old became a fan favorite during the run and retained that status amid the Canucks' struggles this season. Fans started chanting, "Bruce, there it is," in his honor in 2021-22. They did so again Saturday night during Boudreau's final game behind Vancouver's bench, after which he was clearly emotional.

Reports of Boudreau's imminent firing had been circling for the past couple weeks. The veteran head coach posited his own theory for the delay Saturday.

"I don't know the reasoning why I'm still here. Maybe it's because the next games are Chicago, Seattle, and Columbus for the new group," he said. "Good luck."

Seven of the Canucks' last eight opponents are currently in a playoff spot.

The incessant rumors contributed to a tumultuous time for the Canucks. Defenseman Tyler Myers told reporters that the outside noise impacted his team's performance during Friday's 4-1 loss to the Avalanche, while rearguard Luke Schenn said his teammates were "speechless" after failing to get a win for Boudreau against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

Boudreau has had to navigate his way through a handful of emotional media availabilities about his future over the past few days. He told reporters Friday he'd "be a fool" to say he didn't know about his precarious job status before tearfully cutting the scrum short.

The grizzled bench boss was in his 15th season as an NHL coach. He piloted over 1,000 games and earned 10 playoff berths. Boudreau took the Anaheim Ducks to the Western Conference Final in 2015.

He owns an all-time coaching record of 617-342-128.

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