The Professional Women's Hockey League has arrived.

The newly formed PWHL officially unveiled its name along with key details regarding the inaugural six teams and the player selection process in a video conference call on Tuesday.

Six teams based in Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto will comprise the first PWHL campaign. Arenas and team names were not announced.

A free agent period begins Sept. 1, where each team can sign up to three players before Sept. 10. A 15-round draft will take place Sept. 18 in Toronto, after which point undrafted players can sign as free agents or tryout for teams.

Training camps commence the week of Nov. 15 ahead of an anticipated regular-season start in Jan. 2024.

Brian Burke was officially introduced as the PWHL Player Association's executive director. Most recently the Pittsburgh Penguins' president, Burke was an advisor for the defunct Canadian Women's Hockey League.

The Mark Walter Group purchased the Premier Hockey Federation in June to unify the North American women's hockey landscape with the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association.

Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, and Toronto each had active teams operating in the PHF last season. The Metropolitan Riveters were based in New Jersey and previously played out of Brooklyn from 2015-17. Ottawa had a CWHL team from 2007-10.

Buffalo and Connecticut - two original PHF cities dating back to 2015 - didn't receive a franchise.

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Sam Gagner is back in an Oilers jersey.

Edmonton signed the veteran forward to a professional tryout, the team announced Monday. It will be Gagner's third stint with the team that drafted him in 2007 and then acquired him in a trade in 2018.

The 34-year-old tallied eight goals and 14 points in 48 games last season with the Winnipeg Jets. His campaign ended in March when he underwent hip surgery.

Gagner accumulated 111 goals and 317 points in 542 games with the Oilers from 2007-14 and 2018-20. His career highlight came on Feb. 2, 2012, when the then 22-year-old scored eight points in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks, matching Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey for Edmonton's single-game franchise mark.

The London, Ontario, native also played for the Arizona Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks, and Detroit Red Wings. Gagner's accrued 192 goals and 519 points in 1,015 career contests.

The Oilers added Brandon Sutter to their training camp roster on a professional tryout earlier in August.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs signed defenseman Simon Benoit to a one-year contract worth $775,000, the team announced Monday.

Benoit tallied three goals and 10 points in 78 games with the Anaheim Ducks in 2022-23. The 6-foot-3 blue-liner accumulated 60 penalty minutes and had a minus-29 rating while playing 19:21 per contest.

The 24-year-old led the Ducks and ranked 21st league-wide with 216 hits.

Anaheim didn't tender Benoit a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. He'll be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his new deal next summer.

The Laval, Quebec native accrued 15 points in 137 games with the Ducks over parts of three seasons. He was signed by Anaheim as an undrafted free agent in 2019.

The Maple Leafs have eight NHL defensemen under contract after the signing.

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Ottawa Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg is ready for training camp after a goalmouth collision injured both of his knees in February.

"I’ve been back to 100% for a long time," Forsberg told The Athletic's Ian Mendes. "I would have been back last year if we made the playoffs."

Forsberg was stretchered off the ice on Feb. 11 against the Edmonton Oilers after Zach Hyman was pushed onto him in the crease. He was subsequently diagnosed with MCL tears in both knees and given a two-to-three-month timeline that ended his season prematurely.

Despite the nature of the injury, Forsberg feels confident entering the new campaign.

"I feel like I’m not thinking about it at all," he said. "I’m not hesitating, so I feel like it’s all healed. I haven’t had any restrictions of what I can and can’t do. I’ve been doing what I usually do, so I can’t really say I’m holding back on anything right now."

The 30-year-old posted an 11-11-2 record and a .902 save percentage in 28 appearances last season prior to his injury. He has two years remaining on a contract that carries a $2.75-million cap hit.

The Senators spent $20 million on the opening day of free agency to bring in netminder Joonas Korpisalo on a five-year pact. The 29-year-old's coming off a bounce-back campaign in which he had an 18-14-4 record and .914 SV% in 39 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings.

Forsberg and Korpisalo backstopped the Lake Erie Monsters to an AHL championship in 2016.

"We were a good tandem there, and that’s what we want to do here, too," Forsberg said. "We’re really good friends, and when we played together, we hung out together a lot."

Though Korpisalo joins Ottawa on a richer contract, Forsberg's prepared to battle for the starting job and earn his minutes.

"I think at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to who is playing the best. And that’s how it should be," Forsberg said. "If (Korpisalo) plays better, he should play. If I play better, I should play. That’s the way I look at it. This is a team game and the best players should be playing. And I’m looking forward to it."

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The Anaheim Ducks acquired defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2025 fourth-round pick, the teams announced Friday.

Lyubushkin, 29, tallied 14 points in 68 games last season. He's entering the final season of a two-year deal signed in 2022 that carries a $2.75-million cap hit.

The Ducks acquired the fourth-round pick in the trade that sent John Klingberg to the Minnesota Wild prior to the deadline.

"We are excited to add Ilya to our blue line as we targeted another defenseman for the right side this offseason," Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. "He is a big, physical, hard-nosed player that can kill penalties and will make us harder to play against."

Lyubushkin ranked second on the Sabres in shorthanded minutes and blocked shots, as well as third in hits.

Before signing with the Sabres last summer, Lyubushkin spent four seasons with the Arizona Coyotes. They traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022, where he made his postseason debut in a first-round loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The 29-year-old right-shot defenseman has accrued five goals and 39 points in 279 contests, racking up 130 penalty minutes in the process.

Arizona signed Lyubushkin as an undrafted free agent in 2018 after a six-year career in the KHL with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Buffalo had nine NHL defensemen under contract prior to trading Lyubushkin. The Sabres added right-shot blue-liners Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton in free agency this summer.

Anaheim signed rugged defenseman Radko Gudas to a three-year, $12-million contract on the opening day of free agency. Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov - two of the team's top prospects - turn pro this season after leading their respective junior leagues in scoring among blue-liners.

The Ducks have $16.6 million in cap space after the trade, according to CapFriendly.

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The San Jose Sharks added significant NHL experience to their scouting department Friday.

San Jose hired Ryan Miller in a goaltending scouting and development role, as well as Thomas Vanek in an amateur scouting position based in Minnesota, the team announced.

Sharks general manager Mike Grier played alongside Miller and Vanek with the Buffalo Sabres over two stints from 2004-06 and 2009-11. Neither Miller nor Vanek played for San Jose.

Miller, 43, played 796 games over 18 seasons with the Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, and Anaheim Ducks. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2010 and was named the Most Valuable Player at the Olympics the same year for his performance with the United States.

Vanek, 39, accrued 373 goals and 789 points in 1029 contests. After nine seasons with the Sabres, he bounced around the league to finish his career. He suited up for the New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Canucks, and Columbus Blue Jackets before retiring in 2020.

The Austrian played collegiately at the University of Minnesota and returned to the state in 2021 to coach his son Blake.

The Sharks also added Jaren Burke from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Igor Eronko from the KHL's Avangard Omsk to their scouting staff.

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The Boston Bruins signed forward John Farinacci to a two-year, entry-level contract, the team announced Wednesday.

The deal will carry an annual cap hit of $910,000.

Farinacci, 22, became an unrestricted free agent Tuesday after he didn't sign with the Arizona Coyotes, who drafted him 76th overall in 2019.

The Red Bank, New Jersey native tallied five goals and 20 points in 19 games as Harvard's captain last year. In three seasons with the Crimson, Farinacci accrued 25 goals and 61 points in 79 games.

Farinacci's collegiate career was interrupted in 2020-21 when Harvard canceled its sports due to COVID. He starred for the United States' world junior team that winter, registering five goals and seven points en route to the gold medal.

The Coyotes don't receive a compensatory draft pick for losing Farinacci as a free agent.

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Forward Paul Byron will retire before the 2023-24 season, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes confirmed Tuesday, according to La Presse's Richard Labbe.

Byron, 34, didn't play last season due to a hip injury. The four-year, $13.6-million contract he signed in September 2018 expired this summer.

Hughes added that he'll meet with Byron in September to discuss a position with the club, according to Labbe.

Byron was drafted in the sixth round by the Buffalo Sabres in 2007. He played eight games with the Sabres in 2010-11 before being traded to the Calgary Flames.

The Ottawa native played 130 games in Calgary over parts of four seasons. He spent the remainder of his career with the Canadiens after they claimed him off waivers in October 2015.

Byron tallied back-to-back 20-goal campaigns with Montreal in 2016-17 and 2017-18. He racked up career highs in 2016-17 with 22 goals and 43 points.

From 2018 through 2022, Byron was an alternate captain in Montreal. However, he missed 133 games during that span due to injury before missing the entire 2022-23 campaign.

In the playoffs, Byron scored five goals and 11 points in 38 postseason games with the Habs. He played all 22 contests in Montreal's Stanley Cup Final run in 2021.

Byron accrued 81 goals and 160 points in 383 regular-season contests with the Canadiens. He totaled 98 goals and 208 points in his 521-game career.

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The Carolina Hurricanes signed defenseman Caleb Jones to a one-year contract worth $775,000, the team announced Thursday.

Jones tallied four goals and a career-high 16 points in 73 games last season with the Chicago Blackhawks. The 26-year-old played 19:13 per contest, ranking third among Blackhawks blue-liners.

"Caleb is a reliable, two-way defenseman," Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. "His NHL experience will help boost our depth on defense."

Chicago didn't tender Jones a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

He's the younger brother of Blackhawks defenseman Seth and the son of longtime NBA player and current Denver Nuggets assistant coach Popeye.

The Edmonton Oilers drafted Jones in the fourth round in 2015. The Arlington, Texas, native accrued 50 points in 217 games between the Oilers and Blackhawks.

Jones becomes the ninth Hurricanes defenseman signed to a one-way contract. Carolina had $845,583 of cap space prior to the signing, according to CapFriendly.

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The Washington Capitals signed forward Tom Wilson to a seven-year contract extension with an average annual value of $6.5 million, the team announced Friday.

Wilson's entering the final season of a six-year pact signed in 2018. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The 29-year-old tallied 13 goals and 22 points in 33 games in an injury-riddled campaign last season. He set career highs with 24 goals and 52 points in 2021-22.

More to come.

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