11:25 PM ET In a late-night trade on Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs sent forward Nick Ritchie and a conditional draft choice to Arizona in exchange for defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin and forward Ryan Dzingel. The Coyotes will have their pick of the Leafs’ third-round choice in 2023, or second-round pick in 2025. “We are excited

5:43 PM ET ESPN News Services PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to a two-year contract extension on Saturday. The deal carries an average annual value of $800,000 and runs through the 2023-24 season. The extension also gives the 31-year-old some stability. He spent the majority of his first five seasons in

7:51 PM ET NHL commissioner Gary Bettman upheld Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand‘s six-game suspension Friday, saying that his conduct was “intentional and involved an excessive and unnecessary use of force” against “an unsuspecting player.” Marchand was suspended by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Feb. 9 for punching and high-sticking Pittsburgh Penguins goalie

7:04 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment said Friday it will discontinue the proof of vaccination requirement for fans entering its venues, beginning March 1. MLSE owns the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA’s Toronto Raptors, Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. The move follows

4:30 PM ET Associated Press MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens added Nick Bobrov and former NHL star Vincent Lecavalier to their front office Friday. Bobrov will serve as co-director of amateur scouting while Lecavalier becomes a special adviser to hockey operations. Bobrov will share the scouting position with Martin Lapointe. He joins the Canadiens after

5:00 PM ET Head-to-head category leagues are unique in that one goal, one shot, one digit of a save percentage can truly mean the difference between winning or losing an entire week. In that view, here’s a fresh, mid-season round-up of fantasy’s underappreciated category giants, who can help nail down a particular field, with no

1:58 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The NHL has fined Nashville Predators coach John Hynes $25,000 for inappropriate conduct at the end of a 4-1 loss to Washington. The league announced the fine Thursday. Hynes was assessed a game misconduct at the end of Tuesday night’s loss in Nashville. It was the Predators’

8:00 AM ET Mike Modano started his Hall of Fame NHL career with the Minnesota North Stars. They were a blast to watch back in the 1980s, with players like Neal Broten and Dino Ciccarelli scoring copious amounts of goals, until Norm Greed … er, Green … stole them from the “State of Hockey” and

1:56 AM ET Jack Eichel is back in action. The center made his Vegas debut on Wednesday night, in a 2-0 Golden Knights’ loss to the Colorado Avalanche. It was Eichel’s first NHL game in nearly a year, following surgery on a herniated disk in his neck last November. He finished minus-one with one shot

9:33 PM ET Associated Press BEIJING — International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif said Thursday he is optimistic NHL players will participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, though he wants an agreement reached further in advance this time around. The league, NHL Players’ Association, IIHF and IOC worked out