The Colorado Avalanche will add another promising youngster to their lineup Thursday when Bowen Byram makes his NHL debut against the Los Angeles Kings, the team announced.

Byram, 19, was the first defenseman off the board during the 2019 NHL Draft, going fourth overall to Colorado.

The 6-foot-1 blue-liner recently co-captained Team Canada to a silver medal at the world juniors in Edmonton. He contributed one goal and four assists over seven outings in his second year at the event.

Byram tallied 14 goals and 52 points in 50 games with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League in 2019-20. One year prior, he was the WHL's playoff scoring leader with 26 points in 22 games.

The British Columbia native joins rearguards Cale Makar, Conor Timmins, and Samuel Girard as promising under-23 talents on Colorado's blue line.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Buffalo Sabres netminder Linus Ullmark has been absent for the club's last two games, and on Thursday he revealed why.

After Monday morning's skate, Ullmark's mother gave him the news that his father passed away in Sweden at the age of 63. The 27-year-old was supposed to start that night but understandably told the Sabres he needed to take some time away.

"There was no question about it for me, personally," Ullmark said, according to team reporters Brian Duff and Chris Ryndak.

"I just told them that hockey's not a priority at the time. From there, it was basically just trying to deal with all the emotions that came. I've been kind of holding back."

Ullmark, who's spent his entire six-year career in Buffalo, credited his teammates and the entire organization for supporting him through such a difficult time.

"You never know about these things, how you're going to feel and how you're going to handle it," Ullmark said. "But I feel a lot of gratitude towards the boys, towards the organization, and everyone around it. It's been very supportive ever since they found out so a lot of love to them.

"We're always speaking that we have two families," he said. "We have a family at home and we have our family in the team. That certainly was one of the confirmers about how I feel and hopefully how they feel about the team."

Ullmark plans on practicing with the Sabres Thursday before the club heads to Washington for a pair of matchups with the Capitals on Friday and Sunday.

The Swedish puck-stopper made 19 saves in a 2-1 loss to Washington in his only start so far this season.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Montreal Canadiens forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi is taking full accountability for his costly penalty during Thursday's 6-5 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

Kotkaniemi, 20, was called for unsportsmanlike conduct midway through the second period for expressing his frustration toward the officials after Canucks netminder Braden Holtby tripped him with no penalty called. Vancouver scored on the ensuing man advantage to take a 3-2 lead.

"It was just a really dumb thing to do for a young guy," Kotkaniemi said, according to The Athletic's Arpon Basu. "That probably cost us a win, possibly cost us a win tonight. For sure we'll learn from that."

Head coach Claude Julien is hoping his young center can use Thursday's incident as a stepping stone in his development.

"There's no doubt that sometimes players get frustrated," Julien said. "He's a young player, and when you're a young player and you take on a ref - he hasn't earned his stripes yet in the NHL, if you will. He has to be more disciplined than that. That's certainly something he can learn, take a lesson from what happened today."

Kotkaniemi made up for his blunder by burying his first goal of the season to tie the back-and-forth affair with under 10 minutes to play in regulation. He also added an assist earlier in the game and posted a season-high Corsi For of 69.57%, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL has postponed games between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers scheduled for Thursday and Saturday due to COVID-19 concerns, according to The News and Observer's Luke DeCock.

More to come.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

It's been 14 months since the Toronto Maple Leafs fired Mike Babcock, and the former head coach has finally opened up regarding an incident that generated headlines following his dismissal.

Rumors surfaced days after the firing that Babcock made Mitch Marner rank his teammates by work ethic during Marner's rookie season in 2016-17 and later revealed the list to the team. But Babcock said only parts of that story are true.

"Yeah, that's not how that happened, actually," Babcock said, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

He continued: "So Mitch was in my office. We were talking about work ethic. I asked him where he ranked on the scale. And that was no problem, that was just a private thing. It was a good meeting, Mitch left. But then I was meeting, I'm pretty sure it was with (Tyler) Bozak, afterward. Bozy was an important part of our team.

"What I ended up doing - and I made a big-time mistake, I knew as soon as I did it - when we were talking about competing and I said, 'Well, look where Mitch ranks it."'

Babcock said he immediately went to find Marner to address the situation.

"Well, as soon as I did that, and he saw the list, I knew that I had made a major mistake," Babcock said, according to LeBrun. "After the meeting with Bozak, I went right into the dressing room. I grabbed Mitch and said, 'Mitch, this is what I did. I screwed you here.'"

He added: "Now, in saying that, though, what I should have done in hindsight, I should have stopped everybody and said, 'This is what I did to Mitch. I screwed him.' Now, he didn't want to make a big deal out of it. But I could have made a lesser deal of it."

Marner said in November 2019 that the incident had been surprising, adding he felt lucky his teammates had supported him and hadn't taken the list to heart.

Babcock coached the Maples Leafs to a 173-133-45 record over parts of five seasons. The club made the playoffs in three straight campaigns under Babcock but failed to win a postseason series.

NBC hired the 57-year-old in a studio role last week.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Longtime Detroit Red Wings netminder Jimmy Howard is expected to announce his retirement in the coming days after 14 NHL seasons, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on "Saturday Headlines."

Howard, 36, said in June that he hoped to continue playing despite a down year in 2019-20. However, he remains an unrestricted free agent with the season underway and is apparently enjoying spending time with his family, Friedman adds.

The 6-foot-1 puck-stopper spent his entire career with the Red Wings. He ranks third games played (543), third in wins (246), and fourth in both save percentage (.912) and shutouts (24) for the storied franchise.

Howard appeared in two All-Star games and finished in the top eight in Vezina Trophy voting twice (2010, 2013).

Internationally, the Syracuse, New York, native represented the United States at the 2012 and 2017 world championships. Howard was also selected as the nation's third netminder for the 2014 Olympic Games but he didn't make an appearance.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Warning: Video contains coarse language

Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek didn't hide his disdain for a local columnist following the club's 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.

Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer asked Voracek how different the season felt so far due to the circumstances, but he got an answer he surely wasn't expecting from the Flyers veteran.

"Does it matter what I say, Mike? You're going to write fucking shit every time so it doesn't matter what you say," Voracek said.

The 31-year-old then briefly answered the question before doubling down on his displeasure.

"Yeah it feels different, I mean, we get four points off our first two games," he added. "I wasn't even going to answer your question because you're such a weasel, it's not even funny. Next question."

It's not entirely clear why Voracek directed so much hostility toward Sielski, but the columnist publicly criticized the Flyers forward in the past.

Sielski was also critical of Voracek and Flyers captain Claude Giroux early last season when the club stumbled to a 5-5-1 start.

Voracek is playing in his 10th season with the Flyers and has tallied a pair of assists through two games.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Dallas Stars will begin their season Jan. 22 at home against the Nashville Predators, the league announced Friday.

Dallas was supposed to begin its campaign Jan. 14 against the Florida Panthers before 17 Stars players tested positive for COVID-19 throughout training.

Five of the 10 games that have been rescheduled involve the Stars.

*All times EST

The Stars will complete their 56-game schedule in just 108 days.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

St. Louis Blues forward Sammy Blais faces a two-game ban for his hit on Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews during Wednesday's contest, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced Thursday.

The play occurred just over four minutes into the contest. Blais was handed a two-minute minor for elbowing. Toews was shaken up but remained in the game.

Blais, 24, has no prior history of supplemental discipline over 84 regular-season contests. The 6-foot-2 forward later added an assist in the Blues' 4-1 victory.

The Avalanche acquired Toews from the New York Islanders in October and signed him to a four-year, $16.4-million deal shortly after.

Blais will sit for the first game of his suspension when the Blues take on the Avalanche in a rematch Friday.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

It didn't take long for Wayne Simmonds to make an impact for his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.

With the club trailing 3-1 to the Montreal Canadiens midway through its season opener Wednesday night, Simmonds challenged blue-liner Ben Chiarot to a fight that his teammates believed changed the complexion of the game.

"That was the turning point of the game, for sure," William Nylander said after the 5-4 win, according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "He got the boys fired up. I think we were a little soft and slow in the beginning."

Toronto went on to score a pair of power-play goals following the tilt to tie the game 3-3 heading into the third period. Leafs rearguard Morgan Rielly, who scored the overtime winner, seconded Nylander's praise for the club's gritty winger.

"He's incredibly valuable to this team and we're very, very lucky to have him," Rielly said, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton. "He brings a whole lot of aspects of great things to our team in the way that he's able to play."

Simmonds, 32, signed a one-year, $1.5-million deal with the Leafs in October, and the veteran knows he can provide the team with an element of toughness that it's lacked in the past.

"I felt good," he said, according to Shilton. "It was my first real game action in 10 months, 28 days, and I could probably tell you to the second. I thought the boys needed a bit of a spark there. I know my role on this team. I asked Chiarot ... and it was green light go."

Simmonds added three hits while logging 10:25 of ice time in his Maple Leafs debut.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.