7:00 AM ET Jack Eichel is ready for his Vegas debut. The center will suit up for the Golden Knights at home Wednesday against Colorado, in his first game action since March 7, 2021. Eichel, then with the Buffalo Sabres, suffered a herniated disk in his neck that night, and went through a prolonged disagreement

7:00 AM ET Welcome to the second half of this 2021-22 NHL season, where hope springs eternal for all 32 teams. That’s right. Every franchise has at least one Reason For Optimism (RFO), and we’re here to highlight it alongside this week’s power rankings. From top performers to comeback stories to future considerations, there’s bound

2:30 AM ET ESPN News Services CALGARY, Alberta — Tyler Toffoli had a stirring debut with the Calgary Flames. Toffoli, acquired from Montreal a day earlier, scored, and the Flames won their season-high seventh straight game, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 on Tuesday night. “Obviously, coming to a really good team playing really good

2:00 PM ET Two pieces of news Monday made two wingers who are available in at least 50% of ESPN leagues must-adds for fantasy. Evgenii Dadonov, W, Vegas Golden Knights: So this is how the Knights get Jack Eichel under the salary cap. Mark Stone is going the Nikita Kucherov route and going on long-term

9:00 AM ET The fields for some NHL awards are narrowing and solidifying as the league heads deeper into its playoff races. The fields for other NHL awards … not so much. “I have no clue on the Hart Trophy at this point. I change my mind frequently,” lamented one voter we surveyed. Welcome to

2:23 AM ET ESPN News Services SAN JOSE, Calif. — Stuart Skinner made 20 saves in his first career shutout and the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 3-0 on Monday night in Evander Kane’s return to San Jose Kane was booed every time he touched the puck. He did not have a point

2:06 PM ET The Montreal Canadiens traded top-line winger Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a 2022 first-round draft choice (which is lottery-protected), a 2024 fifth-round pick, forward Tyler Pitlick and prospect Emil Heineman, the latter of whom landed in Calgary in the Sam Bennett trade last season. With the trade deadline

6:55 AM ET We’re more than halfway through the third straight pandemic-affected NHL season — but it finally feels like we’re tracking toward normalcy. We have (mostly) full arenas again, and a (mostly) typical 82-game schedule — save for those few weeks in December where a flurry of postponements threatened to wreak havoc on everything.

5:27 PM ET ESPN News Services DALLAS — Nathan MacKinnon had an assist in his return game and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Sunday, padding their lead atop the NHL. MacKinnon, 26, out since Jan. 26 with a concussion and a facial fracture, took his rightful place on Colorado’s top line,

3:47 PM ET ESPN News Services OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa Senators forward Austin Watson has been suspended two games for a hit on Boston’s Jack Ahcan. The NHL announced the suspension Sunday. Watson leveled Ahcan along the end boards midway through the first period of Ottawa’s 2-0 loss to the Bruins on Saturday. He was