The New York Islanders and forward Brock Nelson have agreed to a six-year contract extension.

The deal carries an annual average value of $6 million, according to Arthur Staple of The Athletic.

The 27-year-old Nelson is coming off a career-high 53-point season. He played an integral top-six role for a surprise Islanders team that finished second in the Metropolitan Division and then contributed four goals - including two game-winners - in eight playoff contests.

After being selected by the Islanders with the 30th overall pick in the 2010 draft, the 6-foot-3 center has racked up 241 points in 480 career games.

Nelson was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

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The Ottawa Senators have hired former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant D.J. Smith as their new head coach, the team announced Thursday.

More to come.

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In completing the sweep over the Carolina Hurricanes last Thursday, the Boston Bruins bought Zdeno Chara 11 days to recover from an undisclosed injury, and the captain says he's "taking it one day at a time" in order to return for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on May 27, according to NHL.com's Eric Russo.

Chara returned to practice on Monday and worked out with the full team for the first time since sitting out the Bruins' conference-clinching victory.

The 42-year-old won a cup with the Bruins in 2011 and has been a part of many series-clinching victories over his career. Despite his experience, Chara admits that being in the stands for such a critical game was extremely difficult.

"It was, I'm not gonna lie," he said. "Watching games are not fun. You want to play them, you want to be involved in them. It was that feeling of an anxiousness to play. But the guys did a great job."

Chara's 112 playoff games ranks him fourth among NHL defenseman since 2009. Despite all the miles on his odometer, the 21-year veteran is second among Bruins in average time on ice this postseason, logging 22:31 per game.

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Carolina Hurricanes captain Justin Williams has yet to determine whether or not he has the desire to return for a 19th NHL season.

"I haven't made a decision yet," Williams said according to NHL.com's Kurt Dusterberg. "You don't do those things irrationally. You put thought into it. You find out inside whether you have the full capabilities emotionally and physically to do it. I put everything I had into it this year. If I have everything again, then I'll be here."

The 37-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but Williams made it clear that he'd like to remain in Carolina should he sign another NHL contract.

"I've set up shop here and I'm very comfortable here," he said. "I'm not quite sure where anything else would go."

Williams won one of his three Stanley Cups with the Hurricanes in 2006, and said he was proud to make the team relevant again this season.

The veteran led the Hurricanes to the Eastern Conference Final in their first postseason appearance since 2009. In 15 playoff contests, he contributed four goals and seven points.

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Sam Reinhart scored a pair of goals as Canada blanked Denmark 5-0 for its fifth straight win at the worlds on Monday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jared McCann, and Jonathan Marchessault got Canada out to a quick 3-0 lead with tallies in the first nine minutes of the contest. Reinhart put the game away with a goal in the second frame and another in the third.

Mark Stone followed up his hat trick against Germany on Saturday with two assists against the Danes.

Carter Hart and MacKenzie Blackwood combined for Canada's second shutout of the tournament. After making 22 saves, Hart was replaced by the third-string netminder with nine minutes left in regulation in order to get Blackwood some crease time. The 22-year-old made three saves in relief.

Canada improved to 5-1 in the tournament with its only loss coming in its opening contest against Finland. The Canadians close out the preliminary stage Tuesday against the U.S.

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For St. Louis Blues netminder Jordan Binnington and forward Jaden Schwartz, Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks was a night to remember.

With 21 saves in the Blues' 5-0 victory, Binnington became the first rookie goaltender in the franchise's history to record a shutout in the playoffs, according to NHL Public Relations. The 25-year-old's 11 wins this postseason also marks a franchise record for most in a single playoff run.

For Schwartz, he continued his incredible run with his second hat trick of the postseason, becoming the first player in franchise history to record multiple three-goal efforts in the same playoff run. The last NHLer to accomplish this feat was Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen in 2008.

With just 11 goals in 69 regular-season contests, Schwartz has come alive at the perfect time, as he leads the Blues with 12 goals this postseason and has a chance to break Brett Hull's franchise record of 13 in a single playoff run.

St. Louis is now one win away from its first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1970 after being in last place in the NHL on Jan. 3.

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It was a tough night at the office for the San Jose Sharks. Not only were they blown out 5-0 by the St. Louis Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final, but they took a few bumps along the way.

The Sharks were hit hard with the injury bug during the contest; at one point in the third period, Joe Pavelski, Erik Karlsson, Joonas Donskoi, and Tomas Hertl were all in the dressing room, leaving San Jose's bench shorthanded.

Karlsson appeared bothered by his already injured groin and the star blue-liner's ice time diminished as the game wore on. After playing 7:29 in the opening frame, Karlsson logged just 3:03 in the second period and did not come out for the third.

Pavelski was shaken up after taking a hard hit from Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo early in the third period. The Sharks captain headed directly to the room and did not return.

Blues forward Ivan Barbashev caught Hertl up high with a first-period hit. It's unclear if the hit was the cause, but like Karlsson, Hertl saw his ice time decrease throughout the game and he did not emerge from the dressing room for the third period.

Donskoi took a puck to the face in the third stanza on a clearing attempt by teammate Justin Braun. He was the only injured Shark to return to the contest.

San Jose will hope to have everyone healthy with its season on the line in Game 6 on Tuesday night in St. Louis.

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NHL executive vice president Colin Campbell admitted the league made a mistake on the controversial play that led to the conclusion of Game 3 between the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.

“That was the wrong call," Campbell said on Sportsnet's Hockey Central at Noon. "It should’ve been a whistle if the referee had seen it live.”

With the contest in overtime, Sharks forward Timo Meier made an illegal hand pass that led to San Jose's game-winner. The pass went undetected by the officials, and under the NHL rule book, it wasn't a reviewable play.

“It’s so unfair that the game ended that way,” Campbell added. “The wrong way.

"Yes, you could probably use (Rule 38.4(ix)) but I think it has to be a discussion (before expanding use of that rule).”

Rule 38.4(ix) allows the league to “assist the referees in determining the legitimacy of all potential goals (e.g. to ensure they are “good hockey goals”). For example (but not limited to), pucks that enter the net by going through the net meshing, pucks that enter the net from underneath the net frame, pucks that hit the spectator netting prior to being directed immediately into the goal, pucks that enter the net undetected by the referee, etc.”

This wasn't the first time in these playoffs a non-reviewable play has caused a game to end in contentious fashion.

Trailing 3-0 with 11 minutes left in Game 7 of their opening-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Sharks were awarded a five-minute power play after forward Cody Eakin was called for a controversial cross-checking major. San Jose scored four goals on the power play and won the game in overtime.

The Sharks recaptured home-ice advantage over the Blues and now lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Friday night in St. Louis.

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The Dallas Stars signed defenseman Esa Lindell to a six-year, $34.8-million contract extension on Thursday, the team announced.

Lindell's first big-money contract comes at an average annual value of $5.8 million and keeps the 24-year-old in Dallas until the end of the 2024-25 season.

The Finnish blue-liner logged a team-high 1553:37 of ice time at five-on-five this season and led the club with 161 blocked shots. He tallied career highs in goals (11) and points (32) in his third full NHL campaign.

Dallas selected the 6-foot-3 rearguard in the third round of the 2012 draft.

With blue-chip defenseman John Klingberg under contract through 2021-22, the Stars have locked up the core of their blue line for the next several years.

Still, with Ben Lovejoy, Roman Polak, and Taylor Fedun scheduled to become unrestricted free agents July 1, and Julius Honka coming off his entry-level deal, the Stars will have to make some important decisions to round out their defense corps.

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Anthony Mantha scored two goals as Canada defeated France 5-2 for their third straight victory at the worlds.

After Mantha opened the scoring, Darnell Nurse and Anthony Cirelli gave Canada a 3-0 advantage heading into the first intermission.

Damien Fleury potted the lone goal in the second frame to get France on the board. Anthony Rech made it a one-goal game just minutes into the third period, but Mantha's second of the contest put Canada back in control before Mark Stone delivered the dagger with 10 minutes to play.

France will look to capture their first win of the tournament when they take on host Slovakia on Thursday.

After dropping their tournament opener to Finland, Canada has rallied and now sit in second place in Group A.

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