Teams are calling the Buffalo Sabres with interest in captain Jack Eichel and multiple other players, TSN's Darren Dreger reports.

The conversations are expected to progress leading up to the July 23 draft when Buffalo will pick first overall, Dreger adds.

Eichel's future with the Sabres organization has been a major talking point since a rocky end-of-season interview in which the superstar revealed he's upset with the club's handling of his neck injury and that he's looking forward to next season "wherever that may be."

The 24-year-old sustained a herniated disc in his neck in March, which caused him to miss the remainder of the campaign. Eichel implied in May that he wished to undergo surgery, but the team wouldn't allow it.

General manager Kevyn Adams addressed the situation a few days after Eichel's comments, saying Buffalo will proceed with "the people who want to be here."

Eichel has five more seasons on his current contract at $10 million per and has a full no-movement clause kicking in for the 2022-23 season. The dynamic center has notched 355 points in 375 games since the Sabres drafted him second overall in 2015.

Buffalo finished 31st in the NHL this past campaign, extending its playoff drought to 10 seasons.

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The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Sunday night to take a 3-0 series lead in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Carey Price turned aside 26 of the 27 shots he faced. Connor Hellebuyck allowed four goals on 32 shots.

Joel Armia had a big game for the Canadiens. He scored two goals - including an empty-netter and a shorthanded tally in the second period - and added an assist. Adam Lowry scored the lone goal for the Jets.

The Canadiens have now won six straight games dating back to their first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The two teams will have a quick turnaround and square off again on Monday night for the second half of a back-to-back.

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Winnipeg Jets forward Paul Stastny is back in the lineup for Game 3 against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night, per The Athletic's Arpon Basu.

Stastny missed the first two games of Round 2 with an undisclosed injury. He previously played in all four contests during the Jets' first-round sweep of the Edmonton Oilers.

Despite typically playing center, the 35-year-old is slotting in as a left-winger on a line with Andrew Copp and Nikolaj Ehlers. With Mark Scheifele serving his four-game suspension, Pierre-Luc Dubois centered the team's top line in Game 2.

The Jets trail the Canadiens 2-0 in the series.

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Canada defeated Finland in overtime Sunday to claim gold at the world championship in Latvia.

Nick Paul scored the winning goal in the three-on-three extra frame with Connor Brown - the tournament's leading scorer - providing the assist.

Canada trailed twice during the final, including in the third period, before captain Adam Henrique buried the equalizer with seven minutes to go.

Andrew Mangiapane, who racked up 11 points in seven games after arriving at the tournament late, was named MVP of the event.

The Canadians won their 27th world championship in unconventional fashion. They started the tournament 0-3 and barely qualified for the medal round, but they defeated Russia, the United States, and Finland en route to the title.

The team was led by head coach Gerard Gallant and constructed by first-time general manager Roberto Luongo.

The championship is Canada's first since 2016. Finland topped Canada for gold in the most recent event in 2019.

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The Canadian government has approved a travel exemption for the final two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, allowing teams to cross the Canada-United States border without requiring quarantine, according to CBC News.

Players will live in a modified quarantine bubble and won't have any access to the general public. They will also be subject to daily COVID-19 testing.

Cross-border travel between Canada and the United States has been restricted throughout the pandemic. Last summer, the NHL staged the Stanley Cup Playoffs with strict COVID policies in place in separate bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton.

This season, teams did not play opponents outside their divisions in an effort to limit travel. The seven Canadian teams resided in the North Division.

The Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets are the two Canadian teams alive in the playoff picture, with the Habs holding a 2-0 series lead. The winner of the second-round clash will take on the winner of the Colorado Avalanche-Vegas Golden Knights series in Round 3.

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Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers, Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins, and Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights have been voted Selke Trophy finalists, the league announced Sunday.

The Frank J. Selke Trophy is voted upon annually by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and awarded to "the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game."

Barkov is a Selke finalist for the first time in his career. Florida's captain posted 58 points in 50 games this season and maintained his reputation as a stellar two-way forward. The Panthers had 60.06% of all goals and 59.85% of all shot attempts at five-on-five with Barkov on the ice, according to Evolving Hockey. The 25-year-old also won 54.9% of his draws and registered 39 takeaways while averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time per game.

Bergeron, a four-time Selke winner, is nominated for a remarkable 10th straight season. Should he win this year, he'll surpass Bob Gainey for most Selke wins by a single player. The 35-year-old had 48 points in 54 games this season while controlling 65.8% of all goals and 63.18% of all shot attempts at five-on-five. He saw his average ice time dip in 2020-21 but still won 62% of his faceoffs while notching 35 takeaways.

Stone is a finalist for the second time in his career and would be the first winger to win the award since Jere Lehtinen in 2003. The 29-year-old had the best offensive regular season of his career with 1.11 points per game and led all Golden Knights forwards with 19:04 in average ice time. Stone also led the NHL with 58 takeaways and had sparkling underlying metrics; Vegas scored 64.8% of all goals and controlled 53.03% of all shot attempts with its captain on the ice at five-on-five.

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