Chris Kreider is in high demand.

Eight teams have informed the New York Rangers they have the winger at the top of their respective wish lists ahead of the Feb. 24 trade deadline, reports The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

The Rangers are reportedly seeking a return for Kreider equal to what they received for Kevin Hayes at last year's trade deadline. The Winnipeg Jets sent New York a first-round pick and forward Brendan Lemieux in that deal. Like Kreider, Hayes was a pending unrestricted free agent, though he plays a more coveted position at center.

Kreider is expected to be the top rental target as the deadline approaches. The 28-year-old boasts a rare combination of skill and size, as well as a relatively affordable $4.625-million cap hit.

His injury status could complicate matters, however. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound sniper took an inadvertent knee to the head from teammate Mika Zibanejad during Saturday night's win over the Detroit Red Wings. He missed Monday's loss to the Dallas Stars as a result.

Kreider has spent his entire eight-year career with the Rangers, who drafted him 19th overall in 2009. He has 18 goals and 35 points in 50 games for New York this season.

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The Winnipeg Jets and Dustin Byfuglien are working toward a mutual contract termination within the next several days, sources told TSN's Frank Seravalli.

A termination would end the defenseman's suspension and nullify his grievance against the team. It would also serve as a significant step on Byfuglien's path to unrestricted free agency.

Neither side can independently terminate the final two years of the deal - both sides need to sign off on it - and Byfuglien would then have to clear waivers before becoming a UFA, according to The Athletic's Ken Wiebe.

The gargantuan blue-liner has missed the entire 2019-20 season after undergoing ankle surgery in October. The Jets suspended him in September after he didn't report to training camp, and the NHLPA filed a grievance on his behalf in November.

Byfuglien hasn't resumed skating since the ankle procedure. The 34-year-old's camp has argued the injury was a hockey-related ailment sustained during the 2018-19 season and that it never fully healed, but the team deemed him healthy after he passed his end-of-season physical in April.

The veteran rearguard's ban was procedural in nature and he hasn't been paid since being suspended. Byfuglien's contract originally carried a $7.6-million cap hit for both this season and the next campaign, along with salaries of $8 million in 2019-20 and $6 million in 2020-21.

Terminating the deal would bring closure to the dispute while providing the Jets with cap flexibility ahead of the Feb. 24 trade deadline.

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Stephen Johns will never forget Monday night.

The Dallas Stars defenseman, who missed the 2018-19 season and the first 47 games of the 2019-20 campaign due to post-traumatic headaches, scored his first goal in nearly two years against the New York Rangers.

Johns was understandably very emotional while speaking with the media postgame.

"Waited a long time, thought a lot about ... possibly never doing that again," he said. "Helping this team at a crucial moment in the game, just couldn't be happier."

Johns' parents were in the stands to witness the tally, which put the Stars ahead 3-2 in their eventual 5-3 win.

"It makes it pretty special, my parents were here tonight," he said. "And throughout this whole process, it wasn't just me going through hell. As parents, they wanna help. For them to be here and see that, I probably know my dad was for sure crying. I'm pretty excited to go see them and give them both a big hug."

Including the preseason, regular season, and playoffs, Johns missed 160 games. Monday was just his fourth contest back, and he scored his first goal since Feb. 16, 2018.

The 27-year-old blue-liner was the Blackhawks' second-round pick in 2010. He's recorded 31 points in a 154-game NHL career.

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New York Rangers head coach David Quinn offered a straightforward explanation for his benching of forward Pavel Buchnevich during Monday's 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.

"I didn't like his game at all," Quinn said postgame, according to the New York Post's Brett Cyrgalis.

Buchnevich notched a power-play goal to open the scoring, but his ice time decreased as the game continued. After logging 8:17 in the opening frame, he played just 4:21 in the second period and 1:39 in the third, according to shiftchart.com.

The Rangers controlled just 40% of the shot attempts and 34.5% of the expected goals with Buchnevich on the ice. He was also credited with a giveaway.

Buchnevich isn't the first player to find himself in Quinn's doghouse this season, as fellow youngster Kaapo Kakko was also benched earlier in the campaign.

The 24-year-old Russian has recorded 10 goals and 28 points in 51 games this season after a 21-goal, 38-point campaign in 64 contests a year ago.

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Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen won't return to Monday's game against the Florida Panthers due to an upper-body injury, the team announced.

Panthers forward Frank Vatrano crashed into Andersen late in the first period. The netminder stayed in the game for the rest of the opening frame, but Michael Hutchinson later replaced Andersen to begin the second period.

A long-term injury to Andersen would be a devastating blow to the Leafs' playoff chances, and it would also likely alter the club's trade-deadline plans. Despite some recent struggles, the 30-year-old Dane entered Monday with a .910 save percentage, a 2.87 goals-against average, and 24 wins - the second-most in the league.

Hutchinson, meanwhile, endured a brutal start to the season, but he owns a 4-2-0 record with a .913 save percentage over his last six contests.

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Milan Lucic is more than willing to drop the mitts the next time his Calgary Flames face the Edmonton Oilers, but he says the game has changed, making it more difficult to impose his physical edge.

“I don’t know what people expect. It’s not the '80s anymore," said the 6-foot-4 grinder, according to Sportsnet's Eric Francis. "You can’t just go around jumping people. If you notice, it’s pretty quiet out there when I’m on the ice. Even when I try to mix it up things cool off pretty quick. I wish I was on the ice when that stuff happened.”

The Flames acquired Lucic from the Oilers in July for forward James Neal. General manager Brad Treliving felt the team was lacking a physical element after its first-round playoff loss to the Colorado Avalanche last spring.

Lucic believes his former teammates in Edmonton are keeping their distance from him to avoid letting the 31-year-old get more engaged in the game.

"It’s old teammates too," he said. "I know when you’re on the ice the only friends are those wearing the same jersey, but those guys know me too. They know I play better when I’m riled up. The scoring report on me is... don’t poke the bear. You can’t measure it just based on fights.”

Flames captain Mark Giordano defended his teammate, saying Lucic "didn't fight because no one wants to fight him."

The provincial rivals don't meet again until the final day of the regular season.

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David Rittich won't apologize for channeling his inner Jose Bautista.

On Monday, the Calgary Flames goaltender defended the stick-flip celebration he broke out last Wednesday after stopping Edmonton Oilers sniper Leon Draisaitl to win a shootout.

"We're not able to celebrate in this league anymore or what?" Rittich said, according to Sportsnet's Eric Francis. "I didn't want to do anything more. I just celebrate. Why I should change myself? I'm going to do it (again). I'm that guy who is showing emotions, who is celebrating goals and wins.”

After reaching out to deny Draisaitl with a poke check to preserve Wednesday's win, Rittich got to his feet and tossed his stick in the air.

Draisaitl didn't say much about it postgame, but after Saturday's 8-3 win by the Oilers over the Flames, he called it "disrespectful" and accused Rittich of "acting like they just won the Stanley Cup."

Rittich didn't have much to say in the immediate aftermath either.

"I just did what I did. I don't have any reason why I did it," he told reporters Wednesday night.

The final 2019-20 regular-season installment of the "Battle of Alberta" will take place on April 4. It will be the last game before the NHL playoffs for both clubs.

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