After a few years of turmoil that culminated in an unceremonious sweep in the 2021 playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets are officially done treading water in the defensive zone.

"We managed incredibly well over two years with a real extreme set of circumstances … It could have been devastating," Jets head coach Paul Maurice said, according to the Winnipeg Sun's Scott Billeck.

"I loved the defense corps last year individually ... But as a group, there was lots of room for us to get to another level."

Winnipeg's defensive exodus began in the summer of 2019 when they lost Jacob Trouba to the New York Rangers. Then Tyler Myers took his talents to the Vancouver Canucks on July 1, and Ben Chiarot signed with the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent three days later. Finally, the team granted Dustin Byfuglien a leave of indefinite absence in September of that year, with the two parties later agreeing to terminate Byfuglien's contract in April 2020.

The Jets have seemingly been piecing holes together on the backend ever since. Having a Vezina-winning goalie in Connor Hellebuyck certainly helps, but adding Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt in the offseason goes a long way in addressing the situation.

"We had a big back end, an expensive back end, and then really young kids," Maurice said. "We have a more veteran core there now, certainly on our blue line now, and our goalie who stops a whole lot of pucks."

At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, Dillon is the heaviest defenseman on the roster and will inject physicality into the lineup. Dillon can play shutdown minutes and averaged 18:56 minutes of ice time per game for the Washington Capitals last season. Meanwhile, Schmidt is a strong two-way defender but had a tough time with the struggling Canucks last year.

Perhaps most importantly for Winnipeg, an improved defense means the forwards can focus more on offense.

Maurice asked the Jets to be defensive-minded to make up for their glaring weakness on the blue line, which reflected in their offensive numbers. Winnipeg scored 270 goals in 82 games the season before losing the bulk of the club's defense. In the shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns, the Jets failed to produce more than 250 tallies over an 82-game season.

"This will be, I would say, the best-balanced lineup we've had," Maurice said.

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The 2020-21 season was the year of the Fox.

After joining Bobby Orr as the second defenseman to win the Norris Trophy before his third NHL campaign, New York Rangers dynamo Adam Fox is ready to juggle higher expectations for himself and his young team as a new season looms.

The first item on his checklist? Make the playoffs.

"You can only say you're a young team for so long, or you're only in a developmental phase for so long," Fox said, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen. "We have pieces and a lot of really good players, so I think it's probably playoffs or it's a disappointing year for a lot of guys. It starts in camp and gelling together."

Fox didn't go so far as to say it was playoffs or bust for the Rangers. However, he said the squad needs to start moving out of the rebuild phase that the franchise first announced in 2018.

"We should definitely take a step forward," Fox said. "We've been a young team for the past few years and it only gets better with more experience."

Fox will lead New York's youthful defense corps this season - three of its top-four defensemen are aged 23 and under, with 21-year-old Nils Lundkvist vying for a spot on the third pair. The Rangers' forward group is a bit more balanced, with veterans like Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, and Chris Kreider evening out the inexperience of Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko.

At the helm of it all is new coach Gerard Gallant, who Fox is "definitely excited" to play for.

"I've heard nothing but good things about him," he said. "I can't speak too much to the systems. We haven't gotten going with that. But you see the success he's had with Vegas, and I haven't heard someone say a bad word about him."

The puck drops on the Rangers' season on Oct. 13 against the Washington Capitals.

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On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Nick Robertson reflected on his own battle he grappled with that day in a California hospital.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Robertson was born 10-to-12 weeks premature and without fully developed lungs. Doctors gave him three unsuccessful shots to try and get oxygen to his brain. According to the Robertson family, the fourth shot could have either saved him or killed him.

"With the tragedy that was happening then, people were fighting for their lives, but I was fighting for my life too, ironically," Robertson said, according to the Toronto Star's Kevin McGran. "But the circumstances were different."

At the same time, his mother, Mercedes, was also fighting for her life and needed blood. Robertson's father, Hugh, got into the line to donate and was confused as to why the queue was so long. Fearing more attacks across the nation, Californians lined up en masse to donate their blood to help potential victims. Hugh found out about the attacks after asking those waiting.

"They told him about the plane hitting the towers. And then one by one, they let my dad go in front of them to donate blood," Robertson said.

Fortunately, Robertson and his mother are now healthy. As the young forward gets older, he tends to look at the bigger picture on his birthday.

"My birthday doesn't seem like a birthday," he said. "It's more a memorial in recognition of the tragedy that happened that day."

Robertson's parents haven't seen him play a game in person since February 2020, but he said they will both be in attendance at the NHL rookie tournament in Michigan later this month.

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Former San Jose Sharks forward Marcus Sorensen won't be returning to the Bay Area for the 2021-22 season.

The 29-year-old will instead play for Djugardens IF of the Swedish Hockey League, according to NBC Sports' Dalton Johnson.

Sorensen confirmed his departure on Twitter Saturday morning.

Sorensen put up 64 points across 226 games with the Sharks over five seasons. He was limited to 29 contests during the 2020-21 campaign, his lowest amount since his rookie year.

The Ottawa Senators drafted Sorensen in 2010, but he opted to play in the Djugardens organization for several years. Sorensen's rights with the Senators ultimately expired, and he signed an entry-level contract with San Jose in 2016. He just finished a two-year deal with an average annual value of $1.5 million.

Sorensen represented Sweden at the 2021 IIHF World Championship, registering four points in seven games.

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After playing just three games in the 2020-21 campaign and battling COVID-19 this offseason, Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin is pleased to report that he's in a healthier spot.

"I can confidently say that I can do pretty much 98% of the things in the gym now, which is really exciting," Seguin told Saad Yousuf of The Athletic. "It has taken a long time to get here. There are certain things like sprinting that have been a little bothersome but, on the ice, I feel pretty much back to normal, which is exciting for me."

Seguin missed the majority of the shortened campaign after undergoing hip surgery last November. He made his season debut May 3 and scored two goals, but the Stars missed the playoffs after making the Stanley Cup Final in 2019-20.

However, his health battles weren't over. Seguin, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19 while at home in recent weeks. He had been feeling a little sick and opted to get tested.

"I was like, 'I can't believe it, but I got COVID.' That knocked me on my ass for a couple of weeks," he said.

The 30-year-old said his symptoms kept him "in the doghouse" for a week, and he's still trying to get his sense of smell and his lungs back to normal. Fortunately, Seguin said he feels "better every day."

"Just another eye-opener for me, just realizing that this thing is still real and affects so many people. It's a crazy time right now. It was honestly confusing because I'm double vaccinated. I wasn't doing anything stupid or anything like that but maybe you have a little bit of ignorance thinking you're more invincible being double-vaxxed."

Seguin added that the experience "humbled" him. He hit the ice for the first time in 14 days last Wednesday and battled cramps, while his nose and lungs felt like they were "on fire."

The alternate captain expects to be back at 100% by the end of the week. Training camp is set to kick off in two weeks.

"No matter what, it's hard not to have a smile on my face when competing and being back on the ice," Seguin said.

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The Vancouver Canucks struggled both on and off the ice last season en route to a last-place finish in the North Division, and head coach Travis Green wants to tackle his team's issues head-on.

"We were on the right road going into the bubble year and we've been taking steps, but last year was tough. We're not going to hide from that. We didn't have a very good season, and I expect a bounce-back year," Green said, according to The Province's Ben Kuzma.

"This is the most excited I've been coming into a season as a coach," he added.

The scariest part of the Canucks' 2020-21 campaign came via a brutal bout with COVID-19 throughout March and April that forced the rescheduling of several games. Now, Green is looking forward to a return to semi-normalcy with training camp set to kick off Sept. 23.

"Getting back to regular hockey - or as close as we can be - with a full camp and fans in the building and the changes we've made along with the evolution of our young group, I expect them to be better," he said.

A makeover was needed after the Canucks gave up the sixth-most goals in the NHL. Among the new additions for Vancouver are forwards Conor Garland and Jason Dickinson, defensemen Tucker Poolman, Luke Schenn, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, as well as goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Additionally, top prospect Vasili Podkolzin looks primed to make a splash this season.

"We've added some different players, but after the season we had, we have to be better in all areas of our game - defensively and offensively," Green said. "I don't think there's any team that goes into training camp without concerns. Winning isn't easy. A lot of teams expect to make the playoffs, but you can't get ahead of yourself."

Before the regular season begins, the Canucks have major questions to answer regarding new deals for restricted free agents Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

"We understand that sometimes these contracts take a little while and probably longer than the player or team wants," Green said. "I'm confident they'll get things sorted out and be in camp."

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After a summer spent walking the complicated line between tragedy and joy, Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins is entering the fall with a renewed sense of focus and motivation.

Now, Merzlikins has his newborn son to think about. Knox Matiss Merzlikins was born in August - just one month after Merzlikins witnessed the death of close friend and fellow goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks during a freak fireworks accident on July 4.

"At the end of the day, my peace is that I told (Matiss) everything. The only thing I didn’t tell him was … after the Fourth of July I was going to ask him to be a godfather for Knox," Merzlikins said in an interview with The Athletic's Aaron Portzline. "This is the only piece where I feel, not guilty, but I missed saying something to him."

Merzlikins credited Kivlenieks with saving his family's life and said making Knox's middle name "Matiss" was "the least I could do" to pay tribute.

However, there's one more way Merzlikins plans to honor "little brother" Kivlenieks' memory: Become the league's top goaltender.

"It's another stem of motivation, to do it better for Matiss because he's not going to be able to do that," he said. "I'm gonna win a f------ Vezina for him. We can't make promises because this is hockey, and we don't know how the season can go, but this is my goal. I believe I'm going to reach it. I'm not going to have any limits. I'm just gonna go all-in."

The 27-year-old said he's "grateful" for the Blue Jackets' support and is still talking to a doctor, which he added has been helpful with navigating his grief.

"I’m not in pain. Obviously, I miss my friend. But this is what surprises me ... it’s not disturbing me to focus on my life. I’m happy that I can move on," Merzlikins said. "When I talk about him, it comes from my heart, and you want to cry, but I cry from happiness, not from sadness.

"I believe he made me stronger."

Merzlikins is expected to split the crease with Joonas Korpisalo this campaign behind a new-look blue line.

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It seems the Ottawa Senators and restricted free-agent forward Brady Tkachuk are progressing in the right direction regarding a new contract.

The Senators hope to agree on a long-term deal with Tkachuk before training camp begins on Sept. 22, according to the Ottawa Suns' Bruce Garrioch.

Tkachuk's camp and Ottawa reportedly discussed a new contract as late as last Friday and will likely continue negotiating this week. There hasn't been any animosity between the two sides throughout the talks, adds Garrioch.

General manager Pierre Dorion said Friday the sides have held "productive discussions," per The Athletics' Ian Mendes.

The Senators drafted Tkachuk fourth overall in 2018. The 21-year-old winger posted 36 points across 56 contests last season, which translates to 53 points over an 82-game campaign.

Ottawa is looking to name a captain for the 2021-22 season. Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot are among the leading candidates for the honor.

Tkachuk isn't the only restricted free agent left on the Senators' roster, as the club will also have to decide on Logan Brown. The 23-year-old reportedly hasn't signed his qualifying offer, and both sides agree the forward could use a change of scenery.

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Hockey has come a long way in the desert, but former Arizona Coyotes forward Conor Garland is excited to see what the city of Vancouver has to offer following his trade to the Canucks.

"I grew up in a hockey city in Boston," he said, according to Matt Porter of the Boston Globe. "I played juniors in Moncton, New Brunswick, a hockey city. You felt every Friday night you were the main event and you had the city behind you. It's a little different in Arizona. You're not one of the major sports teams there."

Garland and teammate Oliver Ekman-Larsson were involved in a blockbuster trade earlier this offseason that sent the pair into the throes of the hungry Canadian hockey market.

He signed a five-year contract with an annual cap hit of $4.95 million four days later, a deal that the 25-year-old thinks is only going to look more attractive over time.

"To get that kind of number and security is pretty good for someone who's only played 164 games," Garland said. "I think I'm just getting started and getting better, and I think I'll be a pretty good player at 30. I think by that time it'll be a pretty good deal for them. I'm excited to fulfill my part of it."

In those 164 contests, Garland has put up 96 career points. During the 2020-21 campaign, he tied his career-high 39 points in just 49 appearances, which is a 65-point pace over an 82-game season.

Garland's crossing his fingers that his first year in a new city will be a bit more ordinary than last year's pandemic-altered season.

"Last year was tough. The season was shortened, but it felt like forever," he said. "I'm looking forward to spreading it out and getting back to the normal schedule we train for and prepare for. Obviously, I've got a new team that's heading in a different direction than the Coyotes were."

Though the Coyotes and Canucks failed to qualify for the playoffs this past season, both found some level of success in the 2019-20 postseason bubble. Arizona topped the Nashville Predators in the qualifying round before getting dispatched by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, while the Canucks were eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.

The Canucks were plagued by COVID-19 issues throughout last season, and, like Garland, are also looking for a return to normalcy and success. The team still has to iron out deals with two huge parts of the franchise's future in Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

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Just hours after the NHL announced its participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, USA Hockey revealed David Quinn, John Hynes, Todd Reirden, and Ryan Miller will serve as assistant coaches for the U.S. men's team under head coach Mike Sullivan.

Quinn was most recently head coach of the New York Rangers but was fired in May after failing to make the playoffs. He held a 96-87-25 record in three seasons as the bench boss in the Big Apple. Quinn has coached on the international stage before, serving as an assistant for Team USA at the 2016 IIHF Men's World Championship.

Hynes is currently the head coach of the Nashville Predators. He has coached 438 NHL games and spent parts of five seasons with the New Jersey Devils. He has never served on an Olympic team but was the head coach of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program from 2003-2009. He guided the U.S. to three medals at the IIHF U18 Men's World Championship.

Reirden has never represented the United States at the international level. Currently an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was also the head coach of the Washington Capitals during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns. Reirden has captured two Stanley Cups in his coaching career.

Finally, Miller is making his first international appearance for the U.S. as a coach. The former NHL goaltender played for Team USA on five different occasions, including in the 2010 and 2014 Olympics. Miller retired at the end of the 2020-21 season following an 18-year career in which he suited up for the Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, and Anaheim Ducks. His 391 regular-season wins are the most for a U.S.-born netminder in league history.

The 2022 Games are set to kick off in February.

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