"The goaltending situation has kind of been an albatross for us and weighed on us, heavily, so it was the first thing we were looking to address (in the offseason)," MacKinnon said. "You have to give a ton of credit to (executive vice president of hockey operations) Martin Brodeur. He and [Fitzgerald] worked together to make Crawford happen because it wasn't a slam dunk at all. It took some selling, recruiting. But Marty's relationship with Corey weighed heavily into it, and the opportunity for [Crawford] to do something really meaningful here in kind of a tandem role with Blackwood appealed to him."
Tennessee Titans for NHL Face Masks
"I think with the young players, they want to know that they're going to be counted on in key situations, that they're going to be an important part of the team," Ruff said. "As a coach, it's going to be my job to help develop that and put them in that position to help succeed and at the same time be very demanding of how we need to play as a team to be successful."
"I know there's a great foundation that has been built along with management and [Fitzgerald], the ownership, looking to build the rest of the pieces and take this team in the right direction, get in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and go from there," Ruff said.
Commissioner Bettman made the comments in an online interview during Sports Business Journal's Dealmakers in Sports conference.
Sasakamoose played 11 NHL games for Chicago in 1953-54, making his debut at 18 on Nov. 20, 1953, against Boston. The forward failed to score in his short NHL stint, logging only six penalty minutes, and spent most of the season with the junior Moose Jaw Canucks.
Miami Dolphins for NHL Face Masks
Based on those trends, the Kings expressed concern that they might be one of the last teams allowed to have fans back at home games inside Staples Center. Hence, they're considering plans to play home games at an outdoor venue like the Galaxy's stadium, specifically if other NHL teams are able to play in front of small capacities of fans in their arenas.
The Lightning look ripe for a giveaway, I'll give you that. By that I mean losing a valuable player like Cirelli or Cernak, each a restricted free agent, because of the salary cap issues. They have to move players out to sign them. Are the Sharks a team that can swoop in and make something happen? Sure. It comes down to who or what they're willing to part with. But they wouldn't be alone as a suitor for either Cirelli, a forward, or Cernak, a defenseman. They are two of the most valuable remaining RFAs, so as much as the Lightning might be in a bind when it comes to the cap, if they are eventually resigned to having to move one or both of these players, they likely could drum up a pretty good bidding war and stock their NHL Draft capital in a meaningful way. Remember, Tampa Bay's only first-round pick in the past three years was forward Nolan Foote (No. 27 in the 2019 NHL Draft), and he was traded to the New Jersey Devils with the Lightning's first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft for forward Blake Coleman on Feb. 26. Of the Lightning's 10 first-round picks since 2010, only goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (No. 19 in the 2012 NHL Draft) and defenseman Cal Foote (No. 14 in the 2017 NHL Draft) are with the team.
