The Columbus Blue Jackets signed John Davidson to a five-year contract to serve as their president of hockey operations, the team announced Thursday.

In addition, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen signed a contract extension that runs through the 2024-25 NHL season.

"This is an important time for our organization, and having stability and proven leadership at the top of our hockey operations department is critical for us to do what we want to do, which is bring a Stanley Cup championship to Columbus," Club president Mike Priest said. "Signing Jarmo to an extension and then bringing J.D. back gives us the right people to address the opportunities and challenges before us, and we couldn't be more excited."

Davidson previously held that same role for Columbus for seven seasons from 2012-2019. He resigned to serve as the Rangers' president for two years before being fired, along with New York general manager Jeff Gorton, on May 5.

The Blue Jackets didn't hire a replacement for Davidson after he left, allowing Kekalainen to fulfill both roles. Davidson will now oversee Kekalainen, according to The Athletic's Aaron Portzline.

Davidson guided the Blue Jackets to the franchise's most successful run, as the team made the playoffs four times in seven seasons during his reign.

The 68-year-old was responsible for hiring Kekalainen in 2013 after the two had previously worked together in the St. Louis Blues organization.

Davidson returns to the club at a critical time. The Blue Jackets are currently without a head coach following John Tortorella's departure. Additionally, sniper Patrik Laine is an impending restricted free agent, while defenseman Seth Jones is set to be an unrestricted free agent after next season.

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

Nazem Kadri might've once again put himself in hot water with the NHL Department of Player Safety.

The Colorado Avalanche forward received a five-minute major and a match penalty for an illegal hit to the head of St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk during Game 2 on Wednesday.

Here's another look:

"It's a very dangerous hit. It's gotta be a suspension," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said postgame, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "It's awful to see."

Faulk didn't return to the game.

Kadri has been suspended five times in his career - twice during the postseason.

In Round 1 of the 2018 playoffs as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he received a three-game ban for his hit on Boston Bruins forward Tommy Wingels. During the 2019 postseason against Boston, he cross-checked Jake DeBrusk in the face during Game 2 and was suspended for the remainder of the series.

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

With the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames wrapping up the regular season on Wednesday afternoon, the NHL draft lottery odds are finally set.

The odds are based on the inverse order of the regular-season standings. The expansion Seattle Kraken will get the third-best odds, just as the Vegas Golden Knights did prior to their inaugural campaign.

The Arizona Coyotes will forfeit their first-round pick for violating the NHL's combine testing policy in 2019-20. A redraw will be done if the Coyotes win the lottery.

As a reminder, the NHL approved the following lottery changes:

• The number of lottery draws is reduced from three to two, so the last-place team can't draft lower than third overall
• No team can win the draft lottery more than twice over a five-year period (starting 2022)
• Clubs can move up a maximum of 10 spots, so only 11 teams can win the No. 1 pick instead of 16 (starting 2022)

The lottery will be held on June 2. The draft is scheduled for July 23-24.

There isn't a consensus No. 1 pick in this year's draft, but Michigan defenseman Owen Power is considered by many to be the top player available.

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

The NHL released a statement Wednesday afternoon confirming that positive test results for multiple players on both the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights were reported as such in error.

Players on both teams were isolated earlier in the day while further testing was conducted, before it was later determined that the initial results in question were all false positives.

"This morning, we became aware of certain test results involving multiple Players on two Clubs (the St. Louis Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights) that had indicated positive results for the COVID-19 virus. Because those reported results emanated from the same laboratory, and due to other peculiarities and similarities as among the test results themselves, an investigation was initiated into the possibility that the initial test results reported may have been in error.

"All affected Players were immediately isolated and further testing was done involving collected samples. Those tests have returned uniformly negative results, therefore confirming that the initial reported test results were in error. As a result, all affected Players will be eligible to play in their team’s next game."

St. Louis is scheduled to play Game 2 of its first-round series against the Avs on Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. EST. The Golden Knights will be in Minnesota for Game 3 of their series against the Wild on Thursday.

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

Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice confirmed that forwards Nikolaj Ehlers and Pierre-Luc Dubois wouldn't be in the team's lineup for Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Both skaters were on the ice wearing non-contact jerseys during Wednesday morning's practice.

These were the club's line rushes at practice Tuesday:

The Jets previously ruled Ehlers out for the remainder of the regular season after he suffered an upper-body injury in late April. However, Maurice indicated he expected him to return for the postseason. The dynamic forward finished the season with 21 goals and 25 assists in 47 games.

Dubois suffered an undisclosed injury during Winnipeg's regular-season finale against the Toronto Maple Leafs last week. He finished the campaign with eight goals and 12 assists in 41 games with the Jets after being traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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

Edmonton Oilers forward Zack Kassian and defenseman Slater Koekkoek will be in the lineup for Game 1 against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, head coach Dave Tippett confirmed.

These were the team's lines during Tuesday's practice:

Kassian missed the final three weeks of the season with a lower-body injury and hasn't played since April 21. He has two goals and three assists in 27 games this campaign.

Koekkoek suffered a broken collarbone in February but managed to return for Edmonton's regular-season finale against the Vancouver Canucks last week. The blue-liner finished with one goal in 18 games.

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