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Brenden Dillon To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The NHL’s Department of Player Safety tweeted this morning that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon will have a hearing today for his illegal check to the head of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari. According to Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff, the hearing will be a phone hearing, meaning that Dillon will receive a suspension of five games or less.

The hit happened at the 4:15 mark of the second period in a game that was 1-0 Pittsburgh at the time. Dillon was originally given a two-minute penalty and then received a match penalty on the play after it was reviewed.

Acciari hit the ice hard and in a scary moment tried to get up to his feet but fell back to the ice. He eventually skated off with assistance from the Penguins training staff and left the game with an undisclosed injury. Acciari was visibly bloody from the incident. The Penguins scored twice on the five-minute powerplay and eventually beat the Jets 3-0.

It wasn’t Dillon’s first run-in with the Penguins as Dillon has had some tough battles with Pittsburgh while he was a member of the Washington Capitals. He also had an incident back in January 2022 where he broke the jaw of former Penguins’ center Teddy Blueger with what appeared to be a check to the head. Dillon escaped discipline for that hit, but that doesn’t appear to be the case this time around.

Dillon’s absence will create a hole on the Jets’ backend as he has been playing over 18 minutes a night this season and is having one of his better offensive seasons while still providing sound defensive play for the team.

Chicago Set To Host St. Louis In 2025 Winter Classic

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The Chicago Blackhawks are set for a rematch in the 2025 Winter Classic, taking on the St. Louis Blues at Wrigley Field per team reporter Ben Pope with the Chicago Suntimes. This will be a reliving of the 2017 Winter Classic which saw St. Louis topple Chicago 4-1 at Busch Stadium, the home to the MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals. They’ll now move to the home of the Chicago Cubs, effectively embracing the thick rivalries between the two cities.

This announcement will, above all else, provide future NHL star Connor Bedard with the first outdoor game of his NHL career. The top overall selection in last year’s draft is no stranger to outdoor games, with the WHL’s Regina Pats routinely hosting outdoor events like the Hockey Night on Wascana. But he will need to make sure he’s used to the setting if he plans to stay in Chicago. The 2025 Winter Classic will mark the fifth time that Chicago has played in the event. Couple that with two stadium series appearances, and the Blackhawks will take the lead for most outdoor games of any NHL club when they take the ice at Wrigley Field next year. Chicago will be beating out the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have seen three Winter Classics and three Stadium Series games.

This news also sets up Wrigley Field to become just the second venue to host two Winter Classics – fittingly sharing the title with Boston’s Fenway Park. The Blackhawks will hope for a better outcome than their last game at Wrigley, which ended in a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Jiri Hudler and the Detroit Red Wings.

International Notes: Russia, Insurance, Rink Size, 4 Nations Face-Off, World Cup

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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed today that NHL players will participate in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. Along with NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh and IIHF President Luc Tardif, Bettman oversaw a press conference during All-Star weekend in Toronto and offered some clarifying notes about Olympic participation in 2026 in Milan, Italy.

Tardif confirmed to reporters that Russia’s standing in the tournament has not yet been decided. The IIHF council will meet next week to determine whether the country will be eligible to return for the 2025 Men’s World Championship, at which point they will issue additional updates. Russia has been barred from IIHF competition since its early 2022 invasion of Ukraine for geopolitical reasons. If deemed eligible for Olympic play in 2026, Russia will qualify automatically based on their current world ranking.

The security of players will be the driving force behind the IIHF’s decision to reinstate a Russian contingent, said Tardif. Both the 2025 World Championship and 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Western European countries.

Other updates regarding the Olympics and future international tournaments:

  • One of the driving forces behind the NHL’s barring of players from attending the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics dealt with uncertainty over insurance and travel costs for players. That’s been settled as part of today’s announcement, Bettman said. Those costs, plus other travel-associated costs, will not be fronted by the league – instead, individual Olympic committees and the IIHF will provide funding for players to travel and stay at the overseas events.
  • Tardif also added that for the first time, the Olympic tournament will be played on smaller NHL-sized ice in 2026. This downsizing from the standard international-sized rink was not contingent on the NHL’s participation in the event, per Tardif, and it did not play a factor in today’s announcement. Previous IIHF specifications dictated that rinks must be 197 by 98 feet, while NHL rinks are narrower at 200 by 85 feet.
  • The league also confirmed today’s reported news that a 2025 best-on-best tournament between Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the United States will occur next February in two unnamed North American cities, one in Canada and one in the United States. The tournament, called the 4 Nations Face-Off, will be comprised of 23 NHL-rostered players from each country selected by each nation’s governing association. Interestingly, despite the NHL hosting the tournament, the round-robin portion will adopt the more internationally-recognized 3-2-1-0 points system. There will be no multi-round playoff; instead, the best two teams in the round-robin schedule will play a one-game final match.
  • Bettman said the league’s plan is to return to a regular World Cup of Hockey schedule after Olympic participation resumes. Time constraints limited the size of the 2025 best-on-best tournament, but World Cups are expected to run in 2028 and 2032 and will feature expanded participation from countries not included in the 2025 tournament.

NHL To Allow Players To Attend 2026, 2030 Winter Olympics

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12:35 p.m.: Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed an agreement has been reached with the IIHF to send players to the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics to media today. Bettman added the league has been given “assurances” that the venue under construction for ice hockey in Milan will be completed on schedule.

9:56 a.m.: The NHL and IIHF have reached a deal to allow players to participate in both the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes said Friday. An official announcement is expected from the league later today after the IIHF quickly posted and deleted a post confirming the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, this morning.

Also expected Friday afternoon is an announcement confirming the NHL’s plans to hold a best-on-best international tournament in 2025 between Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The tournament will be hosted in Boston and Montreal and will result in no All-Star Game being held next year.

2026 will mark the first time NHL players participate in the Olympics since the 2014 edition held in Sochi, Russia. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, have already been tabbed as the 2026 hosts, although concerns about the construction timeline for the Olympic rink in Milan may force the ice hockey competitions to be moved to Turin, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 2004.

The host for the 2023 Games has not been named, although Salt Lake City, Stockholm, Switzerland, and the French Alps region have submitted bids. The French Alps bid entered the “targeted dialogue phase” late last year and is the most likely host for the 2030 edition, while Salt Lake City will likely receive the 2034 Games.

Milan will mark the first Olympic appearance for all of the NHL’s next generation of stars, including Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrňák, Cale Makar, and many others. It’s unclear whether Russia will field a team at the event – they are currently barred from IIHF competition due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the 2025 four-nations-style tournament will be the first true exhibition of best-on-best international play involving the world’s highest-ranking men’s hockey countries since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Phil Kessel Still Hopes To Play This Season

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Free agent winger Phil Kessel still intends to sign with a team before the March 8 trade deadline, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun wrote for The Athletic on Wednesday.

Kessel, 36, has not played since Game 4 of the Golden Knights’ first-round win over the Jets in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has continued to skate on his own to stay in game shape throughout the offseason and throughout the regular season.

There’s no substitute for organized hockey, though, and LeBrun says inquiring teams might consider a tryout to have him practice with the team before signing him to a contract. LeBrun reported last month that Kessel was considering signing with an undisclosed team in the Swiss National League, but that has not come to fruition.

To that end, LeBrun notes a “couple of NHL teams have kept tabs” on Kessel in recent weeks, and after some other unsigned veteran dominoes have fallen in Corey Perry and Zach Parise, interest in Kessel’s services might pick up. He must sign by the trade deadline to be eligible for postseason play.

Kessel scored 14 goals, 22 assists and 36 points in a bottom-six role with Vegas last season. He played in all 82 games, extending his NHL-record ironman streak to 1,064. Since he’s remained unsigned this year, the streak is still active.

That level of production on a contending team has left some puzzled as to why no one has taken a flyer on Kessel’s services for the league minimum salary. He checks all the boxes for an ideal cheap add for a contending team – nearly 1,300 games of NHL experience and three Stanley Cup rings, as well as a history of strong playoff performances.

Even still, LeBrun says “there’s no guarantee” a team will extend an offer to Kessel over the next five weeks. That’s despite some contenders with a clear need for scoring support in their bottom six, namely the Bruins, where he began his career after being drafted fifth overall in 2006. He’d be a higher-ceiling option than their depth winger trio of Jesper Boqvist, Jakub Lauko and Oskar Steen, who have combined for four goals.

Evening Notes: Pettersson, Kane, Canucks

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Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that Ottawa Senators prospect Oskar Pettersson will join the team’s AHL affiliate in Belleville and make his debut with the team this weekend. Pettersson was selected 72nd overall in the 2022 NHL entry draft and will be joining a team in North America for the first time in his short career. Pettersson had been on loan from the Senators to Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League where he posted a single assist in 26 games.

Pettersson may have struggled offensively this season, but he has been a strong offensive contributor with Rögle BK J20 over the past three seasons registering 74 points in 74 games. The 19-year-old has shown that he can be a strong player along the boards and can play with the puck in traffic, both skills that should him thrive in the North American game.

Pettersson will likely debut on Friday against the Syracuse Crunch.

In other evening notes:

  • Detroit Red Wings reporter Daniella Bruce tweeted that winger Patrick Kane could suit up on Wednesday if he is 100%. Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde told reporters that the team would know more tomorrow after practice but that the 35-year-old is very close to a return. Kane has been very effective this season in just 19 games with seven goals and nine assists, however, the team is inexplicably just 8-9-2 with him in the lineup and 18-9-3 without him.
  • Elliotte Friedman appeared on Donnie and Dhali today and said that the Canucks remain in pursuit of a top-six forward with Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm at the top of their list of potential targets. The Canucks are said to be looking at forwards who can play multiple positions up front and may need to outbid other teams to facilitate a trade with Calgary. The Flames and Canucks may be bitter rivals, but they have made one trade already this season with the Canucks acquiring defenseman Nikita Zadorov in exchange for two draft picks.

Adam Henrique Could Reunite With The New Jersey Devils

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The New Jersey Devils have expressed interest in Anaheim Ducks centerman Adam Henrique, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on a recent episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast. The Devils were the team to draft Henrique, taking him in the third round of the 2008 NHL Draft. He played out his rookie season in 2011-12, appearing in 74 games and scoring 51 points – the seventh-most a Devils rookie has ever scored. Henrique would go on to play eight seasons and 455 games with the Devils, serving in a pivotal role as the team’s second-line center and averaging around 18 minutes of ice time. He even served as an alternate captain for the team from 2015 to 2017.

The Devils dramatically parted ways with the centerman in November of 2017, trading him to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Sami Vatanen and a 2019 third-round pick used to select Daniil Misyul. Joseph Blandisi and a 2018 third-round pick used on Blake McLaughlin were also sent to Anaheim. Henrique has been with the Ducks ever since, playing in seven seasons and 423 games with the club. That includes 48 games this season – with Henrique boasting 15 goals and 32 points, ranking him third in scoring on the Ducks and, if he joined them, the Devils. The 33-year-old has scored at least 40 points in every season where he’s played at least 50 games – a mark he’s on pace to continue this year.

The Devils would relish in the chance to find an apt replacement for absent centermen Jack Hughes and Michael McLeod. Their missed games have left team captain Nico Hischier with a lot of responsibility – though he’s managed it in stride, with 28 points in 36 games this season despite facing injuries of his own. Still, Henrique would relieve Erik Haula as the team’s second-line center, and provide yet another goal-scorer to a Devils team that already has seven players with 10 or more goals on the season.

Henrique is in the last year of his five-year, $29.125MM contract signed with the Ducks in 2018. He carries a manageable $5.825MM cap hit.

Afternoon Snapshots: Perunovich, Binnington, Skinner, Three Stars

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St. Louis Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich underwent an MRI on Monday for the lower-body injury he suffered in St. Louis’ Sunday night win over the Los Angeles Kings. Team reporter Lou Korac shares that Perunovich will be out on Tuesday but that the team is hoping the All-Star Break will be enough time for Perunovich to recover.

Perunovich has appeared in 31 games this season, netting 12 assists, six penalty minutes, and -4. The 25-year-old also played in 19 games and recorded six assists in the 2020-21 season, though he’s still searching for the first goal of his career. The oft-injured defender missed the majority of last season with a fractured shoulder that required surgery in October. His only action was 22 AHL games, where he scored two goals and 20 points.

The Blues have recalled Tyler Tucker from his conditioning stint in the AHL to replace Perunovich. Tucker appeared in six games with the Springfield Thunderbirds, recording no points, six penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s also managed two points and 22 penalty minutes in 15 NHL games this season

Other notes from around the league:

  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on the recent 32 Thoughts Podcast that Jordan Binnington would be a top starting goaltender option for Team Canada, sharing, “Someone was saying to me the other day, if Canada was playing Game 1 of the World Cup right now… Jordan Binnington would be in the conversation to be your starter.” Friedman also mentioned Stuart Skinner as a second option. Binnington and Skinner have both gone through ups and downs throughout their careers but boast winning pedigrees, with Skinner winning the WHL championship in 2018 and Binnington winning the OHL championship in 2011 and Stanley Cup in 2019. Both were also runners-up for the Calder Trophy in their rookie seasons. They have each played in 34 games this season, with Skinner managing 23 wins a .910 save percentage while Binnington has 17 wins and a .907 save percentage.
  • The NHL has announced their ‘Three Stars of the Week’ for the last full week of January. Matthew Tkachuk wins Third Star with eight points, split evenly, in four games; Connor McDavid gets the Second Star by matching Tkachuk’s stat line in just three games; and Nikita Kucherov takes the First Star with four goals and nine points in just three games. The hot week brought Kucherov’s scoring totals up to a league-leading – and frankly dazzling – 85 points in 49 games.

Five Key Stories: 1/22/24 – 1/28/24

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The All-Star break is almost upon us and once again, it was a busy week on and off the ice where several players took leaves while another entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.  Here’s a rundown of the key stories of the week.

Setback For Chytil: The Rangers were hoping that they’d be getting a key center back soon with Filip Chytil returning to practice.  Instead, he suffered a setback in his recovery from a concussion in practice and soon after, the team announced that he’d miss the rest of the season and playoffs.  His season comes to an end after just ten games while New York now has a notable hole to fill in its lineup.  Notably, with Chytil confirmed to be out for the rest of the season, GM Chris Drury will be able to use Chytil’s money ($4.45MM) that’s on LTIR to go out and try to find a replacement on the trade market.

Gallagher Gets Five: Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher was handed a five-game suspension for his elbow to the head on Islanders blueliner Adam Pelech.  With the Department of Player Safety electing to only do a basic phone hearing, it’s the maximum they could suspend him for.  It’s the first suspension of Gallagher’s career; he’ll forfeit nearly $170K in salary and won’t be able to return until February 15th.  Meanwhile, Pelech, who has dealt with concussion issues, is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Parise To Colorado: Veteran winger Zach Parise had been speculated as an in-season signing for a while now but many thought he’d wind up back with the Islanders.  That isn’t the case as instead, he signed a one-year, $825K (prorated) contract with Colorado.  The deal doesn’t contain any additional performance bonuses.  Parise is a veteran of 18 NHL seasons, recording 429 goals, 21 of which came last season with the Isles.  While it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be able to score at that per-game pace after missing more than half the season, it’s a low-risk addition for Colorado who will likely spot him into the role they initially signed Tomas Tatar for before they moved him to Seattle.  The 39-year-old will make his Avalanche debut after the All-Star break.

Extensions: The Blackhawks continued their recent trend of signing veterans to above-market extensions, inking goaltender Petr Mrazek to a two-year, $8.5MM deal.  The contract actually represents a small raise for the 31-year-old who is playing on a $3.8MM price tag and made it to Chicago as part of a cap-dumping move by Toronto.  But Mrazek has had a nice season, posting a .910 SV% in 34 games on a rebuilding team; keeping him around will give more time for youngsters Arvid Soderblom and Drew Commesso to develop.

Meanwhile, the Flyers signed a pair of players as well.  First, they made winger Owen Tippett a cornerstone piece of their future, signing him to an eight-year, $49.6MM extension.  The 24-year-old had a breakout year last season, notching 27 goals and 49 points in the first season of his bridge deal.  He has a chance to beat that this year, already collecting 18 goals and 30 points in 46 games.  Soon after, they agreed to terms on a two-year, $3.8MM extension with center Ryan Poehling.  The 25-year-old is in his first season with Philadelphia after signing with them as a non-tendered free agent in July.  Poehling has done well in a bottom-six role, picking up 14 points in 45 games while taking nearly ten faceoffs per game.

More Expansion Coming? While we’re not far removed from the last round of expansion when Seattle joined the league as its 32nd team, the Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group has filed a request to initiate a formal expansion process by the NHL.  Salt Lake City has been a speculative landing spot for a new or relocated franchise for more than a year as they’ve been working with the league behind the scenes to position themselves for an opportunity when one becomes available.  At this point, there is no formal expansion process in place but with the rising franchise values and thus a rising expansion fee, there could be one in the cards at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Senators Notes: Trade Targets, Martin, Tarasenko

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Ottawa Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios spoke with the media this morning to discuss a multitude of issues and concerns surrounding the franchise. In the mid-season update, Staios told the media that he has had a lot of discussions with other teams about potential trades and is looking to add players with leadership experience as well as complete 200-foot players.

The news isn’t that surprising given that the Senators don’t possess many players who have been part of a winning culture in the NHL. Outside of a couple of players, most of the Senators currently lineup have never played an NHL playoff game.

Staios’ desire to add complete players is also not surprising given that Ottawa has struggled to play a structured game over the past few seasons. While the offensive skill on the Senators is obvious, they don’t have a lot of defensively skilled forwards or defensemen and it’s been a glaring hole throughout their lineup for a few years now.

Staios mentioned that he would like to be active before the deadline but given most teams cap situation it is unlikely that the Senators will make many moves before the summer.

In other Ottawa notes:

  • Staios added that the Senators’ plan behind the bench is to have interim head coach Jacques Martin finish out the season. Martin hasn’t had a great start to his second run in Ottawa but did receive praise from Staios who said that Martin has laid a foundation for this group. Martin who has long been a good defensive coach, was seemingly brought into Ottawa to help the team find a defensive identity going forward. While the team didn’t see immediate improvement, they have shown signs of it lately with points in five of their last six games.
  • Staios also addressed the status of pending unrestricted free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko. Staios said that he has not talked to the 32-year-old about a move, but he has been impressed with the former Stanley Cup winner. Tarasenko was signed last summer to a one-year $5MM contract and has been as advertised with 12 goals and 19 assists in 41 games. While he is no longer a perennial 30-goal scorer, he is still providing offense at five-on-five and is on pace for 24 goals.

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