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Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson and many other players in Sweden have been granted permission by local authorities to return to the ice, something their peers overseas are not pleased about, TSN's Darren Dreger reported on Tuesday's edition of "Insider Trading."
Some players in North America "do not like the idea" of the Swedes being allowed to skate due to the "competitive edge" it could offer if the league returns, according to Dreger.
Having players return to the ice is a recommendation - but not a directive - from the league, Dreger adds. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, arenas and training facilities remain closed in North America to all players unless they are rehabbing an injury.
Last week, the league extended its self-quarantine recommendation for players and staff for the third time, pushing back the date to April 30.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said players will need a two-to-three week training camp if the NHL resumes its season, which was suspended March 12.
The New Jersey Devils are taking a proactive approach while the NHL remains on hiatus.
Devils interim general manager Tom Fitzgerald has spoken with former Vegas Golden Knights bench boss Gerard Gallant about New Jersey's head coaching position, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported on Tuesday's edition of "Insider Trading."
"Gerard Gallant, according to our sources, (was) interviewed last week," LeBrun said, before adding that the conversation with Fitzgerald took place virtually rather than face to face.
Fitzgerald has spoken to several candidates, according to LeBrun, who wrote shortly thereafter on The Athletic that Devils interim head coach Alain Nasreddine is a legitimate candidate to keep the job.
The Golden Knights fired Gallant, replacing him with Peter DeBoer in a surprise move back in January. Vegas was 24-19-6 at the time, and the team sat only three points back of first place in the Pacific Division despite being on the outside of the playoff picture.
Gallant won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top head coach for 2017-18 after guiding the Golden Knights to a playoff berth and a run to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. He spent parts of three campaigns with Vegas after tenures of similar lengths with the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Nasreddine took over behind the Devils' bench on an interim basis after the dismissal of John Hynes in early December. Under Nasreddine, the Devils have gone 19-16-8.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza had the chance to play for his hometown team this season, and he's hoping he can continue to do so.
"I definitely feel I have game left," the veteran said, according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "And there's nowhere else I'd rather be than play another year here in Toronto."
The Mississauga, Ontario, native signed a one-year, $700,000 deal with the Maple Leafs last summer and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Spezza will turn 37 in June. He's filled a bottom-six role nicely for Toronto, recording nine goals and 16 assists in 58 games while averaging 10:50 minutes of ice time.
He has skated in 1,123 career games, racking up 341 goals and 599 assists.
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin is beginning to enter the tail end of his career, but he's still not exactly sure when he'll call it quits for good.
"We'll see, I have one more year after this season and we'll see," Ovechkin said in an interview with NBC Sport's Kathryn Tappen and Wayne Gretzky Tuesday. "I'm healthy, thank God, and I still love this game. As soon as I'm not going to love this game, I'm not going to cheat on it. I respect it a lot, and I don't want to put my name on the caliber players who just play out there and take somebody's spots. I don't want to do that."
Ovechkin, 34, is set to enter unknown territory as he approaches free agency. He has one more season left on the 13-year extension he signed with the Capitals in 2008 - the only contract he's signed following his rookie deal. The veteran will be 36 years old at the start of his next contract if he chooses to sign one.
The perennial goal-scorer has shown no signs of slowing down yet. He was tied for the league lead in goals with 48 when the season paused on March 12. He's also shown incredible durability throughout his career, only missing a handful of games over the years due to injury.
When asked about his thoughts on what he's accomplished and what he still has to get done, Ovechkin showed he understands the significance of his work on the ice so far.
"Obviously right now I have lots of time to think about and you know it's great, it's great for (the) game, it's great for me, for my teammates, it's great for Washington area, D.C. area to be able to see that," Ovechkin said of his personal feats to date. "Right now, I can't even realize what I did throughout all my career because you know my career is not ending, but to be eighth all time (on the all-time goals list), it's special."
With the 2019-20 season paused indefinitely, theScore recently surveyed a group of NHL players via phone at their homes about a variety of topics.
The six-player panel includes: the Sharks' Evander Kane, the Maple Leafs' Alexander Kerfoot, the Lightning's Kevin Shattenkirk, the Coyotes' Jakob Chychrun, the Kings' Austin Wagner, and the Hurricanes' Warren Foegele.
Interviews were held individually and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
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What's one specific part about being at the rink that you miss the most? It could be a person, a smell, a superstition - anything.
Scott Audette / Getty Images
Shattenkirk: For me, the highlight of my day coming to the rink is going into the training room. Usually, that's where a lot of guys are congregating in the morning. Some guys go in there to get their vitamins, some guys are going in there to get treatment for injuries before practice or the morning skate, whatever it may be. I usually have a crossword puzzle going. Guys come in and we all take our turns at it. It seems to be our water-cooler talk.
Chychrun: It's really just the conversations with the guys. We'll sit at the rink for two hours after practice and talk about absolute nonsense and give each other a hard time. It's those little stupid arguments and conversations where we're busting each other's chops over little stupid things. … I feel like my face hurts when I'm leaving the rink because I'm smiling the whole time.
Foegele: Once practice is done, you get to fool around. It's kind of like you're a kid in a sense, like you're out there on the pond and playing because you just love the sport. That's probably what I miss the most: Enjoying the game and working on getting better. … Whether that is doing shootouts after practice, or shooting at targets, or doing one-on-one battles. It's the competitiveness that I miss, for sure. Competing to win and going up against your buddies out there.
Wagner: For me, it's the schedule that I miss the most. Waking up and having that daily routine. It's different for every day. A game day, for instance, is different than a practice day. That's probably the biggest thing. Even people going to the office, like my mom; she misses the daily routine, too. It's definitely hard on a lot of people.
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Who's the most underrated player in the NHL, and why? You can't pick a teammate.
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
Kerfoot: Miro Heiskanen is the most underrated player. I know (Jason) Spezza on our team - he obviously played in Dallas with him - talks about him a lot. And the more you watch him the more you realize how good he is. He gets a lot of recognition, but maybe not the amount that he deserves. I think that he's an elite skater, probably one of the best in the league. He's got good hands, good feet. He's able to kind of do everything out there: Good defensively and also can carry the play in transition, can make plays offensively. He's really good and is going to be really good for a long time.
Chychrun: It's probably easy to say after the year he had this year, but I think it's Leon Draisaitl. This was the first year everyone realized he could be a top-two player in the league. Him and (Connor) McDavid could be one, two - honestly. I remember when he signed his contract, everyone was freaking out, saying he's overpaid. That's probably the best deal in the league now. … And we play them a lot, so I see a ton of Draisaitl. He's just so dominant. He averaged like 24 minutes a game, a ridiculous number for a forward. It feels like he's out there the entire game and plays in every single situation. That's so valuable.
Kane: You might not think he's underrated but … Draisaitl. Even though me and him don't get along on the ice - I don't know him personally - I would probably go with him. He gets a lot of attention, but I think this year specifically he was able to show he could do it on his own. A lot of people thought he wouldn't be as productive if he wasn't teammates with Connor. … And it's not necessarily his production. It's him being able to carry his own line. He showed that, that was more evident this year. He's underrated in terms of his finish. I know he had 50 goals a season before, but when you think of Leon Draisaitl, I don't know if people think "sniper." He's got good hands, makes plays, can obviously score. But I think he has really, really good finish.
Wagner: I think (Brendan) Gallagher might be a little underrated. He does have an impact on the game every night, and I think people don't realize that, if he's not on the scoresheet. You can obviously look at (Sebastian) Aho in Carolina, too. Carolina doesn't get a ton of media attention. He's an unbelievable player. … There's so many things (about Aho). Just the way he skates and controls the pace of the game. He doesn't just score. He can make plays and do just about everything. He'll turn out to be one of the better players in the league eventually, and he's already showing glimpses of that.
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Let's pretend you're NHL commissioner for a day and can make a change to the game. What do you do?
Eliot J. Schechter / Getty Images
Kane: Honestly, I would make a completely relaxed dress code. That would be my No. 1 thing. That's what I would do. … Being restricted to being able to wear only one style of clothing (takes away) marketability. Players aren't able to show off their own personalities, their own sense of style. It also limits bringing other industries and other entities into our sport, such as the fashion industry. It's pretty hard to be diverse when you are only allowed and able to wear one style of clothing. It doesn't make a lot of sense. You look at how the NBA integrates fashion into their sport, and that's one of the many reasons why they generate so much revenue. They market their players and part of marketing their players is allowing their players to be themselves and allowing them to market themselves.
(Editor's note: Kane's interest in league fashion is bolstered by the late-summer launch of his "EK9" clothing line.)
Shattenkirk: One thing for me that I think could be changed is taking the trapezoid out. I'd like to see goalies handle the puck a little bit more. When it was out previously, the two-line pass was still in play, and that had teams slowed down as they came into the zone. I think taking it out now could present these situations where the goalie isn't sure if he should come all the way out because of the speed of the forechecker, which is now unbelievable, especially since you can't hold guys up. I think it would spice the game up a little bit.
Wagner: That's a really tough one. I think a lot of people have underestimated what Gary (Bettman) has done. I think Gary's done a lot of good things for the league. … I don't really know if I'd change anything. As a young guy, too, it's hard because you haven't been in the league for so long and haven't seen the changes over the years.
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What was your "Welcome to the NHL" moment?
Jared Silber / Getty Images
Kerfoot: My first game, to be honest. We (the Avalanche) played in New York at MSG. You're on the road to start off your career and that was a really special moment. You're playing in a historical building like Madison Square Garden, it's your first game in the NHL, you've got your family in town. It doesn't really get much better than that. And I just remember how nervous I was that whole day. I don't think I slept much the night before the game, and then everything leading up to the game is kind of a blur. ... You dream about that your whole life, and then all of a sudden you're there and you're playing with some of the best players in the world and against some of the best players in the world, people you grew up watching. You're playing next to TV reporters who you've been watching the year before, or who commentated the playoffs. Stuff like that. Every little detail of it is pretty special.
Foegele: I remember I scored my first NHL goal and I lined up beside Bobby Ryan and he said, "Congrats, kid. Welcome to the National." And I was like, "What the heck!? Bobby Ryan's talking to me?" I'll always remember that.
Wagner: I was lucky enough to play in the home opener, make the roster on opening day (for the 2018-19 season). For me, it was probably that first game, when you hear all the noise in the tunnel and they call your name. That gives you something to feel good about. 100%, that was it.
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What have you learned about yourself (or others) in quarantine?
Kevin Sousa / Getty Images
Foegele: (Laughs) I've learned to cook better. During the season, you do cook but you also eat out a lot with your teammates. So I've taken the opportunity to get better at cooking. I wouldn't say I'm the greatest, but I've improved my BBQ skills and read some recipes. Trying new things, getting out of my comfort zone since I have all of this time.
Kerfoot: I think when you're in quarantine for so long, everybody's qualities come to the forefront. You spend a little bit more time with everyone for so long, and maybe some of those negative qualities (appear). I would say that I've noticed that about myself a little bit. Some of the things around the house have been a little bit selfish. I haven't been doing the dishes, haven't been helping out and making meals as much as I maybe thought I was. I think that's been something that has been a little bit eye-opening for me, and something I haven't appreciated my mom doing for me for a long time or my girlfriend in the last little while. I've tried to do a little bit better job of that during this quarantine period.
Chychrun: It's really nice having quality time with (my mom and dad). I'm sure, once we get through this, we'll look back on this time and realize that there might not be another opportunity to have this much quality time with loved ones or whoever you're staying with. I've just been trying to enjoy it with them the best we can, which makes time go by easier. I can't complain because they've been doing all my chores, cooking me every meal. I wake up to a breakfast every morning, a nice dinner, so it's been great. It's been nice to have them here. I couldn't imagine doing this alone. It would be pretty crazy.
The NHL's central registry department has rejected the Columbus Blue Jackets' signing of Mikhail Grigorenko because of a misunderstanding regarding the filing window, the team confirmed Monday night.
However, the club has been in contact with Grigorenko's agent, Dan Milstein, and the NHL, and the contract will be filed on July 1.
The pact reportedly went against section 50.8 of the league's CBA, according to TVA's Renaud Lavoie. That section states:
"No club or player may enter into a (standard player contract) that does not cover at least the then-current league year. The foregoing does not apply to an SPC entered into pursuant to Section 50.5(f) above, or to unsigned draft choices or draft-related unrestricted free agents, who shall be permitted to sign an SPC during the period from March 1 through June 1 immediately preceding the league year in which such SPC is to take effect."
The Blue Jackets inked Grigorenko - a former NHL forward who's spent the last three seasons in the KHL - to a one-year deal for the 2020-21 campaign Monday morning.
The NHL paused the 2019-20 season on March 12 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
After losing in the 2006 Western Conference Final, the Anaheim Ducks added Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger to their star-studded lineup in an all-in effort to capture the franchise's first Stanley Cup.
Facing off against Daniel Alfredsson and the Ottawa Senators in the 2007 final, the Ducks carried a 3-1 series lead to Anaheim for Game 5. With the Stanley Cup in the building, could Anaheim seal the deal, or would the Senators rise to the occasion and push the series back to Canada's capital for Game 6?
