IRVINE, Calif. -- His cellphone rang as he was driving around downtown San Diego.

Dallas Eakins receives calls regularly from Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray, but this time it wasn't about organizational depth charts or injury updates. More than 70 days after the Ducks season ended, Murray told Eakins he was officially the next coach ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Sharks on Monday made Erik Karlsson a cornerstone of the franchise for years to come, not to mention the highest-paid defenseman in the NHL.

The Sharks signed Karlsson to an eight-year contract extension worth $92 million, a deal that carries an average annual value of per $11.5 million, according to CapFriendly. Bob ...Read more

Dallas Eakins is expected to be announced as the next Anaheim Ducks coach on Monday.

Eakins is set to take over for the fired Randy Carlyle, the Los Angeles Times has learned, after he coached the team's minor league affiliate San Diego Gulls for four seasons. He was always considered to be a strong candidate unless another surpassed him during...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- When you've waited 52 years for a Stanley Cup, what's several hours of braving thunderstorms to stake out a coveted patch of downtown sidewalk or Arch grounds grass?

"This is the biggest party St. Louis has ever seen," said Randy Sapienza, 36, who was below the Arch as the parade started. He estimated that the crowd on hand was ...Read more

BOSTON -- They shed their gear as they hopped over the bench boards, sticks and gloves helicoptered in the air as their yells filled the TD Garden silence.

With that, the St. Louis Blues shed more than half a century of can't-win stigma. No longer will their legacy be reduced to black-and-white newsprint history, the players formerly known as ...Read more

BOSTON -- The 2018-19 Blues, a team once given up for dead, on Wednesday achieved hockey immortality.

The Blues completed the longest road back in hockey history with a 4-1 win over the Bruins at TD Garden, giving the franchise its first Stanley Cup in its 52-year existence. And they did it an unprecedented way, coming back from having the ...Read more

BOSTON -- Ryan O'Reilly doesn't need much more inspiration to play the biggest game of his life. Everything he's worked for in his career boils down to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

But he can draw a little extra from his 99-year-old grandmother.

Throughout the playoffs, Deidre O'Reilly has emailed the St. Louis Blues center encouragement ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- A deep, thunderous cheer greeted the St. Louis Blues just before they took the ice for the third period.

It didn't matter that they trailed by a goal. Surely they could erase that and march on to history with their first Stanley Cup.

But 2:31 into the period, Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo sent a soft shot from roughly 60 ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- In a city that seemed ready to explode, the Bruins spoiled St. Louis' party on Sunday night, taking the lead on a first-period goal on a two-man advantage to put the Blues dreams on hold for at least three nights at best, another season at the worst, with a 5-1 win in Game 6 on Sunday night at Enterprise Center.

Game 7 of the ...Read more

CHICAGO -- The Blackhawks have failed to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons and their closest rivals, the Blues, are on the cusp of winning their first Stanley Cup.

But with the No. 3 pick in the draft and roughly $20 million in salary-cap space, according to capfriendly.com, Hawks general manager Stan Bowman is decidedly optimistic about...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- When Ryan O' Reilly wants to get away from the noise and the buzz, he plays with his son. Brayden Schenn has another method.

"Put away the phone," Schenn said.

The St. Louis Blues are on the brink of franchise history with a chance to win the first Stanley Cup in their 52-year existence Sunday. They have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-...Read more

MONTREAL -- Looking out his expansive office windows atop this city's bustling downtown core, one of the owners of a future Seattle hockey team nearly 2,300 miles away described the naturalness of that journey.

For sports-fan-turned-lawyer-turned-businessman Mitch Garber, 54, owning a piece of an NHL team is something no pure-blooded Montrealer...Read more

Don't look now, but another Blues player has been suspended.

Valuable fourth-line forward Ivan Barbashev was given a one-game suspension early Friday evening after a hearing with NHL Player Safety earlier in the day.

The league determined that Barbashev delivered an illegal check to the head of Boston's Marcus Johansson in Game 5 of the ...Read more

BOSTON -- This is the big test facing the Boston Bruins now: Can they handle the missed call in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final as well as the Blues handled the missed call in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.

That was the game where a blatant hand pass by San Jose led to the winning goal in overtime. It was a blown call significant ...Read more

BOSTON -- The St. Louis Blues, who ranked last in the NHL on Jan. 2 and appeared destined for a second straight non-playoff finish, are one victory away from capping a remarkable comeback season with a Stanley Cup championship.

Goaltender Jordan Binnington, who became the key to their rise when he seized the starting job in January, stopped 38 ...Read more

BOSTON -- The Blues moved to within one win of the franchise's first Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win over Boston in Game 5 on Thursday at TD Garden.

The Blues will have a chance to take the trophy that has eluded them since they came into the league in 1967 on Sunday night at Enterprise Center. If they don't win there, they'll have a second chance ...Read more

It once seemed inconceivable that a player as talented as Russian right winger Vasili Podkolzin could drop to the Flyers at the No. 11 overall pick in the June 21 NHL draft.

Now, it's not such a long shot.

Podkolzin, who will turn 18 on June 24, was widely regarded early in the season as the No. 3 pick in the draft, behind Jack Hughes and ...Read more

BOSTON -- Crunch time has arrived for the Boston Bruins, who have been on the receiving end of enough hits from the St. Louis Blues to have blue note logos imprinted all over their aching bodies. The Stanley Cup Final is tied at two games each, but the Bruins appear to lead in the most unfortunate of categories: significant injuries.

As the ...Read more