Eleven months after piecing together a hockey team, the Vegas Golden Knights have become one of the most improbable underdog stories in pro sports history.

Never has an American expansion franchise excelled like the Knights, who blistered their way through their debut season to inexplicably reach the Stanley Cup Final.

No team in modern NHL, ...Read more

Paul Fenton takes over as general manager of a Wild team that has made the Stanley Cup playoffs for six consecutive seasons.

To team owner Craig Leipold, that wasn't good enough. Leipold joined Fenton and coach Bruce Boudreau, and team captains Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, at an introductory news conference Tuesday morning at Xcel ...Read more

The Wild made their first major acquisition of the offseason Monday, tabbing Paul Fenton as their next general manager exactly a month after cutting ties with Chuck Fletcher once the season ended.

"It is my distinct pleasure to welcome Paul Fenton as the General Manager of the Minnesota Wild," owner Craig Leipold said in a statement. "Paul is ...Read more

When Marian Hossa stunned Blackhawks fans and the hockey world in June by announcing he would sit out the 2017-18 season because of a skin disorder, there was little doubt he had played his last NHL game.

Hossa confirmed that Saturday, telling Slovakian news outlet Novy Cas he is retiring after 19 seasons.

"I'm done playing hockey," Hossa, 39,...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- The Golden Knights like to see themselves as a bunch of rejects who carry a chip on their collective shoulders because they were discarded and doomed to the cruel fate of playing for an expansion team.

On Friday this group of misfit toys moved within one victory of clinching a berth in the Stanley Cup Final, withstanding another ...Read more

The NHL, the only major professional North American sports league that operates a team in the gambling mecca of Las Vegas, reacted cautiously Monday to the Supreme Court decision that struck down the federal law that prohibited individual states from allowing and managing bets on college and professional sports.

"The Supreme Court's decision ...Read more

Legalized sports betting will not make a difference to NHL players, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said.

"I can't imagine it's going to have any effect on our players," Hextall said Monday afternoon after the Supreme Court made sports betting legal in the United States. The decision was especially hailed in New Jersey, because the state has...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Sharks center Joe Thornton revealed Tuesday that the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee were fully torn when he was injured on Jan. 23 in game against the Winnipeg Jets at SAP Center.

It's the exact same injury he dealt with last spring, only it was his left knee that was hurt at that point. ...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- A stirring San Jose Sharks comeback in the third period Friday created a few tense moments for the frenzied, sold-out crowd inside T-Mobile Arena.

But the first half of Game 5, when the Sharks reverted back to some bad habits against the Vegas Golden Knights, was too much to overcome.

Now they've got less than 48 hours to get ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In their biggest game of the playoffs so far, the San Jose Sharks came through with one of their most complete performances of the season.

Faced with the prospect of Wednesday's game potentially being their last of the season on home ice, the Sharks scored twice in the first period and received a sterling effort from goalie ...Read more

In announcing that he wouldn't retain general manager Chuck Fletcher, Wild owner Craig Leipold said he didn't expect the next GM to "rebuild" the team. In Leipold's mind, the Wild are not far from the Stanley Cup, but a fresh set of eyes is necessary.

There's a perception around the Wild that the expensive Zach Parise and Ryan Suter's contracts...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks did everything they could to send Game 3 of their second round playoff series with the Vegas Golden Knights to overtime. They just couldn't find the finishing touch.

William Karlsson scored with 11:43 left in the first overtime, his fourth goal of the playoffs, as the Golden Knights picked up a 4-3 win at...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Evander Kane fed his critics some fodder Thursday when he put himself in position to be suspended by delivering a cross-check to the head of Vegas Golden Knights forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in Game 1.

To some, the play reinforced Kane's bad boy image. He lost his cool in a blowout loss and responded with a violent act, ...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Nate Schmidt wondered what he was getting thrown into when the Vegas Golden Knights selected him off the Washington Capitals' roster in the NHL expansion draft last June. He knew one other player, forward Erik Haula, a former teammate at the University of Minnesota, and knew goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury through shaking Fleury's hand...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- In a season full of firsts, the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday again experienced something new. But this time it wasn't a joyful event: They lost a Stanley Cup playoff game, and in double overtime.

San Jose forward Logan Couture scored a power-play goal five minutes and 13 seconds into the second sudden-death overtime at a ...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- The San Jose Sharks found out right from the start Thursday that the playoff version of the Vegas Golden Knights are a carbon copy of the regular season team.

Fast, opportunistic, relentless.

And that was just in the opening 12 minutes of the first period.

The Sharks were overwhelmed by the Golden Knights in Game 1 of their ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- As the Sharks gathered for their first training camp in 1991, they carried with them the optimism that precedes every team's season.

At the time, 16 of the league's 22 teams qualified for the playoffs. To the Sharks' players, being one of the 16 wasn't entirely out of the question, even as an expansion team.

"I distinctly ...Read more