7:30 AM ET Today’s NHL is loaded with skill and talent up and down the ice. But what would the perfect player look like? Using the attributes of current NHL stars, we set out to create the perfect forward, defenseman and goaltender. We continue the series here by building the ultimate defenseman from 16 different

7:30 AM ET Today’s NHL is loaded with skill and talent up and down the ice. But what would the perfect player look like? Using the attributes of current NHL stars, we set out to create the perfect forward, defenseman and goaltender. We start the series here by building the ultimate forward from 19 different

7:20 AM ET Today’s NHL is loaded with skill and talent up and down the ice. But what would the perfect player look like? Using the attributes of current NHL stars, we set out to create the perfect forward, defenseman and goaltender. We complete the series here by building the ultimate goaltender from 15 skills

5:04 PM ET Retired NHL goaltender Kevin Weekes has a piece of advice for hockey teams looking to address racial inequality in the sport: start being real. “I want to see people be real,” said Weekes, the lead analyst at NHL Network and an 11-year NHL veteran, on the ESPN on Ice podcast this week.

8:45 AM ET When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the “return to play” postseason tournament format, he announced that the regular season was considered completed as of March 11, the day before the league shut down for the coronavirus pandemic. While there was some brief confusion about where statistics from the qualification round would end

7:30 AM ET This NHL season provided one of the more compelling, back-and-forth rookie races I can remember — and between two defensemen, no less. Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar were the first two defensemen in the modern era to finish first and second in the rookie scoring race. They each walked directly into the

11:35 PM ET Veteran defenseman Kodie Curran signed a two-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, the team announced. Curran, 30, was named MVP of the Swedish Hockey League this season after posting 12 goals and 49 points. The deal with Anaheim will run through the 2021-2022 season. Curran has yet to appear in

8:30 AM ET The sheer volume of questions about the NHL’s season restart this summer can leave one feeling woozy. Will teams and players come back? Can they come back? Should they come back? And that’s not even getting into the mysteries concerning locations, schedules and the hundreds of health and safety considerations necessarily for

8:35 AM ET New York Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller addressed the racist treatment he received while being introduced to the team’s fans in April, saying it was another example of his challenge to be accepted as a black hockey player. “I struggle because I’ve never been fully accepted by either the black community or the

3:41 PM ET NHL players and teams made strong statements against racial inequality over the weekend, using social media to address the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed. Floyd died last week in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. He was