Oilers' Zach Hyman leaves Game 4 after hit from Stars' Mason Marchment
EDMONTON, Alberta — Oilers winger Zach Hyman suffered an upper-body injury against the Stars in Game 4 of the NHL's Western Conference final on Tuesday night.
Hyman took a glancing hit from Dallas forward Mason Marchment in the first period and dropped his stick, favoring his right arm, before heading straight down the tunnel to Edmonton's locker room.
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
What should the Buffalo Sabres do with JJ Peterka? 4 key questions
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The NHL offseason began in earnest this week in Buffalo with general managers, agents and other league personnel descending upon Western New York for the annual NHL Scouting Combine. And it feels like the Sabres will be at the center of a lot of the NHL's offseason chatter. This is a high-stakes summer for general manager Kevyn Adams as he enters his sixth season on the job. The weight of their league-record playoff drought is getting heavier with every season. But this offseason is about more than just the pressure from the fan base. The Sabres have six restricted free agents, and Alex Tuch is eligible for a contract extension on July 1. That's a lot of moving pieces for a team that hasn't lived up to expectations the last two seasons. Advertisement Of those restricted free agents, JJ Peterka is the one whose situation is most intriguing. The 23-year-old is fresh off a career-best 68-point season one year after he had 50 points. He's a fast, sharp-shooting winger capable of creating offense off the rush. He's everything the Sabres hoped for when they picked him in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft. And yet he's No. 7 on The Athletic's first offseason trade board. Peterka's name first entered the rumor mill around the trade deadline when the Sabres received interest. Adams said then there was 'zero truth' to any suggestion the Sabres were trying to trade Peterka. He also said he viewed him as a 'core young piece' and would prioritize meeting with his agent after the season to talk about the next step. Adams also acknowledged he would need to explain to Peterka how he plans to make the team better this offseason and going forward. That process continued when the sides met at the NHL Combine this week. The stance from Adams and the Sabres is consistent: They don't have an interest in trading Peterka. But that hasn't stopped teams from calling. If anything, the interest in Peterka has intensified since his name has started to pop up in more trade rumors from league insiders. The Sabres' preferred outcome is getting Peterka locked up to another contract. The key, as The Athletic's Chris Johnston wrote last week, is whether Peterka is willing to make that same commitment to the organization. If he's not, the Sabres' decision-making gets a bit more complicated. Speaking on Sportsnet 590 The Fan this week, Elliotte Friedman said, 'Peterka is clearly trying to make noise to force them to make a move.' If that's the case, Adams has a trickier situation on his hands, and he needs to keep his options open. So, what are the Sabres' options? Peterka is a dynamic player. He would have significant value in a trade, especially because outside of Mitch Marner and Nikolaj Ehlers, the free-agent pool isn't deep with goal-scoring wingers. But the Sabres won't be interested in making their team worse this summer. Trading Peterka for a futures-based package doesn't help Buffalo win now. It needs to be a priority for the Sabres next season. Advertisement But if Adams wants to make a significant change to this roster, Peterka is among the most valuable trade chips he has. The Sabres would love to find a right-handed defenseman capable of playing in the top four. They could also use a top-six forward capable of playing a hard-nosed, two-way game. If the Sabres could address one or two of their needs by moving Peterka, it might be worth considering. But the only way it makes sense is if the haul is a significant one that makes Buffalo a more complete team in 2025-26. It also makes sense if the contract negotiations get messy When Peterka's name has been bandied about in online trade chatter, there is talk about the looming threat of an offer sheet. But how much of a threat is that, really? If Peterka doesn't want to be in Buffalo, signing an offer sheet would be a risk, especially if it's long-term. The Sabres have the cap space to match even an aggressive offer sheet. They would like to have him here long-term. He's a known favorite of owner Terry Pegula. If another team wants to do the negotiating for the Sabres, it would make Adams' life easier. The one caveat to that is if a team gets creative and signs him to a short-term offer sheet with a big cap number. That could make Buffalo's decision a bit more complicated and be a risk worth taking for Peterka. If the Sabres match a short-term offer sheet, Peterka is not locked in long-term and has a bit more control over his future. According to AFP Analytics' latest projections, Peterka could command just about $7.8 million per year on a seven-year deal or $4.6 million per year on a two-year deal. Peterka could have the leverage to negotiate bigger numbers, but that's the ballpark the Sabres will be dealing with. Adams already acknowledged the Sabres need to sell Peterka on the team's vision. Maybe that opens the door for a short-term deal that allows Adams to prove to Peterka that the Sabres can become a winner. It's not an ideal outcome for the Sabres because Peterka would be due for another contract when the cap continues to climb. But it might be a necessary compromise depending on how much Peterka is willing to dig in. The Sabres have four more years of team control with Peterka before he becomes a free agent, so they don't have to move him. Advertisement Central to all of Buffalo's decision-making when it comes to Peterka is properly evaluating the type of player he is and the type of player he can become. His goal-scoring and playmaking ability have been evident during his first three NHL seasons. He had 27 goals and 41 assists last season after 28 goals and 22 assists the season before. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Sabres had 46 percent of the expected goals when Peterka was on the ice at five-on-five, so his two-way game still needs improvement. Peterka also noted toward the end of the year that he's striving to be more consistent and wants to make sure his body language is better during frustrating moments. Peterka has already proven he's a capable top-six winger. He has spent plenty of time on Buffalo's top line and power play, and there's still plenty of upside in his game. After investing so much time and energy into his development, the Sabres wouldn't be eager to see him leave just as he's beginning to enter his prime. But like the rest of Buffalo's offseason, it's complicated.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Connor Roberts: Wales will go toe-to-toe with any team under Craig Bellamy
Connor Roberts says Wales are heading into their crunch World Cup qualifier against Belgium driven on by a change of mindset under Craig Bellamy. Wales boss Bellamy has overseen a dramatic improvement in fortunes since succeeding Rob Page, with the Dragons currently sitting top of their qualifying group for next summer's tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Advertisement Monday's World Cup qualifier against Belgium in Brussels marks the 12-month anniversary of their last defeat – a 4-0 beating in Slovakia that marked the end of the Page era. Connor Roberts, left, says Wales' mindset has radically changed under Craig Bellamy (Nigel French/PA) Bellamy has embarked on a nine-game unbeaten run since taking charge – by far the best start of any Wales manager – and has promised to go on the attack against group favourites Belgium at the King Baudouin Stadium. 'Yes. Straightforward answer,' Roberts said when asked if Wales were profiting from a mindset change under Bellamy. 'The manager has come in – and obviously I know him from his time at Burnley – and we will go toe-to-toe with any team. Advertisement 'I'm not saying we'll win every single game but one thing is for sure, we are one as a team. Bellamy extended his unbeaten start as Wales manager to nine games on Friday (Adam Davy/PA) 'As the Wales national team, we will give everything, and do the right things to try and win every game we play.' Former Wales captain Bellamy has spoken at length about the demanding playing style he has introduced since his appointment last July. It is a high-pressing and high-energy possession game with the aim to dominate possession and win the ball back as soon as it is lost. Roberts said: 'It's massively enjoyable for everyone. None more so than me having been here quite a while, and trying to play the way I know how to after being at Burnley. 'If you win games and put in good performances you will enjoy it.' Advertisement Wales moved clear at the top of Group J after beating Liechtenstein 3-0 in Cardiff on Friday. Goals from Joe Rodon, Harry Wilson and Kieffer Moore completed a routine victory after Liechtenstein, ranked 205th out of the 210 teams in world football, had held out for 39 minutes. Wales hold a two-point lead from North Macedonia after taking seven points from their opening three World Cup qualifiers. Joe Rodon, centre, scored his first Wales goal against Liechtenstein (Nigel French/PA) Belgium began their campaign on Friday with a 1-1 draw in North Macedonia after conceding a late equaliser. Roberts said: 'We just have to concentrate on ourselves, go into every game to try and win, and that will be exactly the same against Belgium. Advertisement 'Of course it's a big switch (from playing against Liechtenstein) but we have to keep being ourselves and not change. 'Why can't we go there and dominate and put in a really good performance? That is the aim, that is the plan, and hopefully we can achieve that.'
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Southern hockey surge: NHL teams thrive in non-traditional markets, from Texas to Florida
Popeye Jones was an NBA rookie with the Mavericks the same season that Dallas debuted its new NHL team, and he decided to go to a Stars game after meeting future Hall of Fame player Mike Modano. 'I couldn't figure out hockey. They were jumping over and off the ice … I'm like, 'what's going on with this sport?'' Jones said. 'The puck flew up, I remember it hit somebody in the nose, blood was all over the ice and they kept playing.' Back during that 1993-94 season, before he became a hockey dad, the 6-foot-8 Tennessee native who had grown up playing basketball, football and baseball was like many people in the South: He knew nothing about hockey even as the NHL was making a push into non-traditional markets. Those days are long gone. NHL teams in the South are playing for and winning the Stanley Cup in packed arenas and there is steady growth when it comes to youth participation. Football may still be king in many Sun Belt locales, but hockey has been welcomed from Las Vegas to Texas to Nashville to North Carolina — and certainly in Florida. Jones has two sons who are now NHL players. Seth Jones, a defenseman for the Florida Panthers, is playing in the Stanley Cup Final after the 12-season veteran, the fourth overall pick by Nashville in the 2013 draft, was traded from Chicago to the defending champions in March. Caleb Jones played for the Los Angeles Kings, his fourth team the past seven years. The expansion Panthers came into the league with Anaheim in 1993-94, at the same time the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators were expansion teams the previous season, and the Hartford Whalers moved to Carolina and became the Hurricanes in 1997. Shane Willis remembers playing with the Hurricanes following the NHL's arrival in North Carolina — a process featuring a two-year transition to Greensboro before moving to Raleigh — and sometimes noticing a sparse home crowd during warmups. 'I'm like, 'Is anybody coming?'' said Willis, now Carolina's manager of youth and amateur hockey after five seasons as an NHL player. That isn't the case now, with Carolina having won a Stanley Cup in 2006 and currently on a seven-year run of winning at least one postseason series, including this year's run to the East final . Southern success This is the sixth season in a row a team from Florida has reached the Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers are there for the third year in a row, this time in a rematch against Edmonton. Tampa Bay also made it to the final three straight seasons, winning the Cup the first two. The Lightning's run began by beating Dallas in 2020 in what is still the the 'southernmost' Stanley Cup Final — except that entire postseason was played in Canada after the regular season was shortened because of the pandemic. Dallas made its third West final in a row this year, coming up short of another Cup chance. But they were the first Sun Belt team to hoist the Stanley Cup in 1999, followed by Tampa Bay in 2004. Every game in the conference finals in 2023 was played in the Sun Belt , a first. The Panthers beat Carolina in the East like they did this year, and Dallas lost to Vegas in the West. Popeye, Mo and Sakic Popeye Jones met Modano after getting invited to do an appearance during a Dallas Cowboys game. 'Not being a hockey fan, I really didn't know who he was and he didn't who I was. But we just struck up a conversation and started talking,' Jones said. 'Just general talk about sports and whatever, and he was such a nice guy and I enjoyed sitting there and talking to him.' That helped Jones become a Stars fan. They both played home games at the since-demolished Reunion Arena before Jones was traded to Toronto and later Boston, homes of two of the NHL's Original Six teams. His only season playing in Denver was 1999-2000, when the Avalanche lost to the Stars in consecutive West finals before winning the Cup in 2001. It was there that he got to know Avs star Joe Sakic, another future Hall of Fame hockey player and now the team's president of hockey operations. Jones' oldest son, Justin, came home from school one day in the Denver area and said he wanted to play hockey, which had a significant influence on Seth, who was 5 or 6 at the time. With his sons interested in playing an unfamiliar sport , Jones sought advice from Sakic, who said the boys needed to take skating lessons. Seth Jones started playing hockey in Colorado, but was born in Texas and was on some Stars-affiliated youth teams after his dad later returned to the Mavericks. 'When I was there, you could see more and more kids starting to play in Texas,' the 30-year-old Panthers defenseman said. 'And then really the past eight to 10 years, you see kids actually moving from the northern cities down to Texas because the hockey has really grown. Where before, all the good kids out of the southern cities would move up north to Chicago and Michigan and New York and these places.' More and more players The number of players registered with USA Hockey has grown significantly in Southern states over the past 20 seasons. USA Hockey said 4,793 players registered in North Carolina for the 2005-06 season, with roughly 2,400 of those being 18 or younger. That overall number of players jumped 19.5% (to 5,728) for the season following their 2006 Cup run. By the 2024-25 season, the state had 8,698 players (up 81.5% from 2005-06) with 5,608 being 18 or younger (up 135.5%), though Willis noted the actual number is likely higher since not all players register with USA Hockey. The total number of registrations have increased even more in Florida and Texas over the past two decades. In Florida, the total number of players has gone from 9,363 in 2005-06 to 22,888 (a 144.5% increase), with the number in the 18 or younger age groups nearly doubling to 10,277. Texas went from 7,017 to 17,346 total registrations (147.2%) in that same span, with those 18 and under going from 5,457 to 7,199 (31.9%). Pete DeBoer, the Stars coach the past three seasons, had his first NHL head coaching job with Florida from 2008-11. He recalls the Lightning and Panthers then playing before sparse crowds with questions about whether those teams would even stay in those markets. 'To see where they're at now is really impressive,' DeBoer said before the team fired him this past week. 'Dallas for me is a perfect example of coming into a place and, you know, getting a foothold at the grassroots level, and that the amount of rinks, ice surfaces and facilities and kids playing minor hockey here in Dallas is way bigger than I ever anticipated.' Much of that came as a result of the 1999 Stanley Cup for the Stars. 'They won, they captured the city's attention and all this stuff got done. Rinks got built,' DeBoer said. 'I think Florida didn't get that done early, but is doing it now and they're going to reap the benefits of that. I think when you get a team that wins and it's in a non-traditional market, I think the benefits roll out for decades.' Introducing the game For the Hurricanes, early outreach included going to area schools and essentially running PE classes as an introduction to the sport. The team, aided by grant money from the NHL, has more recently purchased equipment such as balls, sticks and Hurricanes-logo apparel to donate to more than 100 schools. The team this year partnered with Raleigh suburb Apex to open two public street hockey rinks. Carolina, Dallas and Florida all have tie-ins to to the 'Learn to Play' umbrella program created by the NHL and NHL Players' Association to introduce boys and girls, and even adults, to the sport. Those programs include variations of providing hockey equipment and instruction, and on-ice workouts at multiple rinks in their areas. 'What you have to do is not only introduce the game of hockey to people, you have to introduce your brand. You have to make both things very attractive to parents to want to get involved,' Willis said. 'I see so many parents now, they come to games and we talk about it: if you can create a hockey player, whether it's street hockey or ice hockey, you're creating three fans. Because that kid is going to come to a game with Dad, Dad and Mom, maybe a sibling. So then you're in the range of three to four fans you're creating.' Popeye Jones knows how that can go, recalling a time when Seth Jones was 11 or 12 and the family wanted him to find something else to do in the summertime. 'A kid called and said hey they had some ice, you want to come and, you know, play some pickup hockey. At first I didn't want him to, but I saw he was moping around the house,' the elder Jones said. 'I told him to get his stuff. I'll never forget it, he got this bag together so fast and got in that car and I was driving him to the rink and I looked at him and I saw this big grin and I said, 'Well, I guess I got a hockey player.'' ___ AP Sports Writers Aaron Beard, Pat Graham and Tim Reynolds contributed to this report. ___ AP NHL playoffs: and
