The frozen ponds of Canada are where many kids first lace up skates and establish NHL dreams.

When the season turns and the ice briefly melts, hockey can take a bit of a back seat to summer pleasures. But only for a short while.

During summers, Hilary and Dale Dach would take their three kids -- including oldest son Kirby, whom the Blackhawks ...Read more

With each passing trade, the Blackhawks seem to be tipping their hand that something larger is in store.

The Hawks acquired defenseman Calvin de Haan and forward prospect Aleksi Saarela from the Hurricanes on Monday for goalie Anton Forsberg and defenseman Gustav Forsling, both of whom were restricted free agents.

The deal comes less than a ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. -- While not a blockbuster deal, the Carolina Hurricanes worked out a trade Saturday with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the NHL draft in Vancouver.

The Canes received a conditional first-round pick in the 2020 draft, Toronto's seventh-round selection in 2020 and veteran forward Patrick Marleau in exchange for Carolina's sixth-round ...Read more

VANCOUVER, Canada -- Once the spectacle and the awe of the NHL draft set in, Alex Turcotte could feel the emotion of it.

He was like any other teenager selected Friday, but it really hit home when the Los Angeles Kings picked him fifth overall and he thought of his father, Alfie, a former NHL forward who has guided him every step of the way.

"...Read more

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The shock wasn't nearly as big as it would have been if Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko had fallen out of the top two spots, but when the Blackhawks announced the selection of Canadian forward Kirby Dach with the No. 3 pick on Friday at the NHL draft it still turned some heads.

Most draft experts believed the Hawks ...Read more

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- At sixth overall in the 2019 NHL draft, the Detroit Red Wings picked German defenseman Moritz Seider at Rogers Arena.

Seider was rookie of the year in the DEL, Germany's top men's hockey league in 2018-19. He had six points in 29 games for Mannheim. He brings size at 6 feet 3 and 208 pounds, and shoots right. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The Anaheim Ducks have bought out the contract of Corey Perry, a former Hart Trophy winner and Stanley Cup champion.

The announcement Wednesday ended a 14-year relationship with a player considered to be a cornerstone franchise piece early in his career with the Ducks. Along with Ryan Getzlaf, Perry helped the Ducks win the 2007 ...Read more

Joe Thornton wants to play at least another year.

"Yeah, and longer," Thornton told reporters with a laugh Tuesday at the NHL Awards' media availability in Las Vegas.

"Probably play another 10 years," he added. "We'll wait and see, but I'm thinking five to 10 right now. I got nothing else going on."

Kidding aside, Thornton, slated to become ...Read more

The Flyers continued to remake their defense Tuesday.

Four days after they acquired Matt Niskanen from Washington, the Flyers traded two draft picks to San Jose for veteran defenseman Justin Braun.

"He is a high-character, quality defender who will bring a steadying presence to our team," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said.

The Flyers...Read more

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