The NHL has made its stance public in regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, releasing a statement explaining what actions it will take:
The National Hockey League condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urges a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible. Effective immediately, we are suspending our relationships with our business partners in Russia and we are pausing our Russian language social and digital media sites. In addition, we are discontinuing any consideration of Russia as a location for any future competitions involving the NHL.
We also remain concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia, who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL Clubs, and not on behalf of Russia. We understand they and their families are being placed in an extremely difficult position.
The statement came just moments after the IIHF suspended Russian and Belarusian clubs from several international competitions. More from around the league:
- The Vegas Golden Knights have been struggling of late, losing their last two and six of their last ten. They still sit in a playoff position in the Pacific Division, but things are as tight as ever, with the sixth-place Vancouver Canucks just ten points out of first place in the division. It’s good news that Robin Lehner is set to return tomorrow night, but head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic that both Max Pacioretty and Mattias Janmark are out tomorrow and “wouldn’t call either close” to a return. Pacioretty has played just 25 games this season–though he does have 15 goals and 27 points in those appearances.
- Speaking of Vancouver, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on CHEK TV today and spoke about the Canucks current trade talks. The insider explained that the Canucks have “thrown everyone’s name out there” except for Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and Thatcher Demko, asking teams how they view and what they would pay for them should they become available. Still, the Canucks are still not out of the Pacific race by any means and don’t really have to make any decisions by the trade deadline, with players like J.T. Miller still under contract for next season and Brock Boeser still a restricted free agent this summer.