The NHL has hated fun for a long time. It’s a battle that has rights holders walking lock-step with the league because most of the talking heads are ex-NHLers in one fashion or another. The latest installment of painstakingly teasing the fun out of the game is Mike Milbury — noted fun-hater — calling P.K. […]

A chorus of voices calling for a scorched Earth policy is rising. Fans of the eight teams eliminated in the first round want heads dangling from the rafters by October. The heads will serve as a warning for future players and coaches. Don’t betray us ever again. It’s a hallowed tradition of hockey fandom. A […]

Despite the absurd shot differentials in their opening-round series, the Blues’ defense has been the key to thwarting the Wild in three of the first four games. Most playoff previews started an assessment of St. Louis with the blue line. In part, that’s because of the Wild’s deep forward group. But it’s also because the […]

Almost every season the Cup champions have a veteran on the roster who has waited a long, long time to reach the summit. It’s one of the best parts of the Cup presentation ceremony, whether it’s legends like Ray Bourque and Dave Andreychuk or underappreciated vets like Kimmo Timonen or Antoine Vermette. Looking around the […]

Game 1 of the opening-round series between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues is mercifully over for the Wild. It took a little more than 77 minutes for the Blues to eek out a win despite being outshot by almost 30 shots. In spite of the end result, it’s the Blues and not the […]

When the Minnesota Wild drafted Mikael Granlund ninth overall in 2010, he was expected to be an explosive offensive force. There have been stops and starts, hot streaks (mostly in international play), cold stretches, and playoff heroics. But the Granlund promised was an elite playmaker and top-line center. That wasn’t the player the Wild had […]

Monday, the Minnesota Wild placed center Tyler Graovac on waivers. The fourth-line pivot hasn’t been awful during his delayed rookie season. The 23-year-old made the Wild out of camp last year, but an opening night injury left him on the shelf for months and then forced to work on his recovery in Iowa. At times, […]

With Devan Dubnyk sitting top three league-wide in save percentage, goals-against average, shutouts and wins it might not be instantly obvious the Wild have an issue in net. As a team they have the second-best even-strength save percentage and Dubnyk has played 77 percent of the games. The problem can’t be that big. Yet, it’s […]

Kassidy Sauve might be the WCHA’s best-kept secret. One year ago, the Ohio State women’s team was 6-21-1 in conference play with a win percentage of .232. Fast forward a year and there’s no team firmly entrenched at the bottom of the WCHA, creating more competition in the middle of the conference. Yet, Ohio State […]

From the first preseason poll until two weeks back, the University of Minnesota Gophers women’s team held down the No. 2 rank in the nation. But the second half of the season has not started how they hoped. Injuries and struggles in net have seen them drop down to No. 4. Just before the holiday […]

Have yourself a year, Kirill Kaprizov. It’s been a remarkable run for the Minnesota Wild’s 2015 draft pick. From international to domestic play, he’s been setting records and making fans question how the hell he fell to the fifth round of the draft. Captaining Team Russia at the 2017 World Junior Championship, he set an […]

ST. LOUIS — If the national excitement about outdoor games has abated some, the alumni game is undoubtedly facing the same fate. The energy level and seriousness is basically beer league hockey, except the guy wearing the Chris Chelios jersey is actually Chris Chelios and he’d probably skate circles around any beer league. But the point […]

Now in its 11th year, the World Junior A Challenge is a top showcase for skaters across the world playing junior A hockey. This year’s tournament features two NHL draft picks, 48 players committed to NCAA programs and 19 players who made Central Scouting’s preseason players to watch list for the 2017 NHL Draft. The […]

The 2017 World Junior Championship is just around the corner. National teams are gathering for selection camps to whittle down rosters one last time before the tournament starts in earnest on Dec. 26. The U.S. announced a 27-man roster headed to selection camp. Here’s a look at a few things we can discern from the […]

The big series in women’s hockey over the weekend pitted the no. 1-ranked Wisconsin Badgers against the no. 2-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers. In the first Border Battle series split since 2011, the two teams saw the best of what each offer and what has, thus far, set them above other teams in the conference. Tight […]

Tuesday, Hockey Canada announced a 32-man roster they’ve invited to their World Junior Selection Camp, slated to get underway Dec. 10. While it doesn’t have the jaw-dropping surprises of last year’s rosters for both Canada and (especially) the U.S., it’s our first glimpse at what Canada’s entry might look like in about a month’s time. […]

A morning chock full of news out of South Florida buried a big announcement in junior hockey. The prestigious Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup will begin to be

Sunday night, the Florida Panthers shocked the hockey world by being the first team to fire a head coach this season. It was unexpected. Gerard Gallant recently received a contract extension, led the team to an Atlantic Division title (riding a tidal wave of PDO at 102.1), was a 2016 Jack Adams finalist and was […]

We have passed the oft-used (roughly) quarter-season mark of American Thanksgiving. Enough games have passed that we have a good sense of what’s going well and what’s a flaming dumpster full of regrets. It also means it’s no longer too early to take a look at how rookies are faring in their maiden voyage. Here’s […]

Jonathan Huberdeau was the last major piece of the young Florida Panthers core that general manager Tom Rowe needed to lock up. He got that done this week, putting Huberdeau on a deal that will have him in a Cats jersey for the next seven seasons. It’s been a busy 12 months for Rowe and […]