Hockey Page 552 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The beginning of the end starts for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight

In the latest exhibit that the hockey gods come with a wicked sense of humor, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now tied for the longest streak of making the playoffs in the league. Thanks to the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Nashville Predators all heading for the cottage of the damned th...

The NHL Playoffs Attention Meter

It’s that time again. When the loudest and most obnoxious guy in the bar tells you it’s the best time in sports, the NHL Playoffs. There will be a few tweets coming across your timeline that say something that has some combination of puking and snorting coke together, and they’re likely about watchi...

No one wants to get their teeth kicked through their skull by the Bruins

If the NHL ever considered instituting its own play-in tournament, and they have, and last night’s Lakers-Timberwolves what-have-ya wasn’t enough to dissuade them, then the Islanders and Penguins have recently showed the league that were they forced to waylay into each other in a single-elimination ...

The Calgary Flames were undone by a gimmick

While sneaking into the bottom rung of the playoffs is something to be eschewed in the NBA given that it rarely leads anywhere, there’s still a perception in the NHL that all you have to do is “get in.” The NHL has dined out for decades on the idea that the playoffs set everything anew, and that one...

American hero T.J. Oshie’s time in the nation’s capital should come to an end

As the Washington Capitals exited last year’s playoffs in the first round against an upstart Florida Panthers squad, it felt like the end of an era. The core of the team stayed together from their 2018 Stanley Cup victory but hadn’t won a playoff game since and was only growing grayer. And if being ...

PK Subban’s LGBTQ+ comments divide hockey community

NHL headlines this season have become dominated by players refusing to wear Pride jerseys and the debate over LGBTQ+ inclusion in the sport. Although Pride is the harbinger, hockey’s toxic culture sits at the center as the sport grapples to address not only homophobia and transphobia, but issues of ...

Wanna raise a future NHL star? Name him Connor

Connor McDavid has recently surpassed his career high for points in a season and has continued to climb, with over 140 points (60+ goals, 80+ assists) on the season. Many in the hockey world already regard the 26-year-old center as one of the best to ever play the game. He is explosive, deceptive wi...

Connor McDavid isn’t going to get a better chance

Every generationally great player, or every player that can safely say they’re one of the five best of all time, eventually bores the public with their greatness. Or at least fails to spike the EKG when news of their latest heroics crosses the wires. Connor McDavid is there. ...

Carson Brière and James Reimer make it clear hockey is not for everyone

When millions watched a video of NCAA hockey player Carson Brière pushing a wheelchair down a flight of stairs, it revealed something. The same can be said for James Reimer’s overt decision to not wear a Pride jersey with his San Jose Sharks teammates. For decades, hockey’s toxic culture has been li...

Let’s find a way the Boston Bruins might lose in the playoffs, if there is one

While Gary Bettman might not think there’s anything wrong with the current playoff system (he’s wrong!), it is pretty clear that this set-up has robbed March and the first half of April of most of its drama. We’re basically down to seeing whether a wheezing Penguins team (whoops!) can keep their lun...

NHL continues to coddle the bigots

Yet another NHL team had to have an ado about their Pride Night and warmup jerseys this past weekend. This time it was the San Jose Sharks and goalie James Reimer. It was the same bullshit we’ve heard from others, though the Sharks put him on his own island to explain himself, which is half the batt...

Fighting in hockey is taking its last breath

The debate about fighting in hockey has always been overly loud for what was actually being debated, if debate ever even took place. One side of it always tended to be pretty shrill. The natural evolution of the game to a speed and skill one has lessened fighting to a rarer and rarer occurrence on i...

Nepo baby Carson Briere gets probation for pushing wheelchair down flight of stairs [Updated]

Updated Dec. 21, 2023: The Erie County District Attorney’s Office approved Carson Briere, the son of Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere, and Patrick Carrozzi’s applications for Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, a special program for first-time, nonviolent offenders....

Tony DeAngelo continues to be just awful

Update: DeAngelo was suspended two games by the NHL without pay on Wednesday for spearing Corey Perry. He’ll forfeit nearly $55,000 in salary for taking a shot at the Lightning forward’s manhood....

Patrick Kane made me love and hate the Blackhawks

Everything just slowed down....

The Toronto Maple Leafs load up for their first-round exit

The Atlantic Division in the NHL was already a hell gauntlet. With the Boston Bruins suddenly turning into a team of frost giants that can skate (then again, it’s probably likely frost giants could always skate, given the conditions in the Jotunheim), it’s only become more so. It’s just three teams ...

It’s time for our yearly 'Don’t buy Carolina Hurricanes stock' column

It comes from a place of heartbreak. It’s hard to not become smitten with the Carolina Hurricanes. They play fast. They have a rabid fanbase. They have a lot of players that are easy to like. They have a coach in Rod Brind’amour who’s happy to explain things to fans and isn’t a complete meatball (he...

Alex Ovechkin’s leave of absence does little to change his chase of Gretzky [Updated]

Alex Ovechkin has transcended hockey since he entered the league officially in 2005. He had to wait an extra year because of that pesky canceled season after he was drafted the year prior. He also missed three months due to another lockout in 2012. Not to mention the coronavirus pandemic disrupting ...

This young Red Wings fan on the jumbotron is exactly what the world needs

And now for the NHL trade deadline, which is much more boring than the NBA's [Updated]

The NBA can shift its entire axis in a trade deadline — like Brooklyn shipping Kyrie Irving to Dallas and Kevin Durant to Phoenix — or in free agency. The NFL is starting to put more jazz into both its deadline and offseason. MLB could if any owner wanted to actually spend money outside of Queens. T...