Bo Byram’s NHL learning curve is reminiscent of how quickly teammate Cale Makar fit in with the Avalanche two seasons ago. And make no mistake, that’s a rare development cycle. Makar began his first full NHL season at age 20, and won the Calder Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year at 21. Byram, 20, has started the season […]

CHICAGO — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman talked to Kyle Beach on Saturday about what the league can do to better protect its players after the former first-round pick said he was sexually assaulted by an assistant coach in 2010 and that his allegations were largely ignored by the Chicago Blackhawks. Susan Loggans, an attorney representing Beach in a lawsuit against […]

The Florida Panthers announced Friday that Andrew Brunette has been elevated to interim head coach. The move comes after Joel Quenneville resigned Thursday following the release of a detailed report of a coverup by Blackhawks senior leadership after allegations of a sexual assault were revealed. “It’s a real sad day for hockey, with Kyle Beach and everything he’s gone through,” Brunette […]

With the 2021-22 NHL season in full swing, we present our annual ranking of the league’s top 100 players. To create our list, we asked an ESPN panel of more than 50 hockey experts to rate players based on how good they will be in the 2021-22 season compared to their peers. Emphasis was placed solely on expectations for the […]

We released our NHL Rank top 100 for the 2021-22 season — a predictive list of the top 100 players for this coming season. A panel of ESPN NHL experts voted on who they thought would be the best players this season. But that doesn’t mean we got it all right, so we asked a few of our experts to […]

Joel Quenneville resigned Thursday as head coach of the Florida Panthers after an investigation into the Chicago Blackhawks’ sexual abuse case revealed he had knowledge of the allegations when he was coach of the Blackhawks during the 2010 season. An interim head coach announcement will be forthcoming, according to the team. Former Blackhawks player Kyle Beach on Wednesday came forward […]

Emily Kaplan is ESPN’s national NHL reporter. Kyle Beach has come forward as “John Doe,” the former Chicago Blackhawks player who filed a lawsuit against the team for mishandling his sexual assault allegations. Beach, now 31 and playing professionally in Germany, revealed himself in an emotional interview on TSN Wednesday, saying he felt “relief and vindication” and “it was no […]

In the calendar year 2021, Nikita Kucherov has played three regular-season games. His team, the Lightning, have played 63. And now, there’s a good chance he won’t add to his total before New Year’s Day 2022. After missing the entire 2021 regular season due to offseason hip surgery, Kucherov returned for the postseason and put on a clinic. He scored […]

Emily Kaplan is ESPN’s national NHL reporter. Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville has a meeting scheduled with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday in New York to discuss his involvement in the Blackhawks sex abuse scandal. Quenneville said he addressed his situation with the team, and said he didn’t think it would be an issue because “I think we try […]

Avalanche defenseman Sam Girard will miss at least one game resulting from an awkward check into the boards on Saturday from Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. Coach Jared Bednar confirmed that Girard won’t be available on Tuesday when Colorado hosts the Vegas Knights at Ball Arena. He is still considered “day-to-day” for return with an upper-body injury. Girard will be replaced […]