NHL Thread Because There Isn't An NHL Thread

Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion announced Friday that defenseman Artem Zub signed a two-year contract extension that carries an average annual value of $2.5 million, according to Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas.

The Senators signed Zub to a one-year deal prior to the campaign. The 25-year-old previously spent six seasons in the KHL; in 2019-20, he posted a career-high 22 points in 57 games with SKA Saint Petersburg.

Zub impressed in his first NHL season, showing off his two-way skills while tallying three goals and 11 assists in 47 contests. He averaged 18:23 minutes of ice time per game while playing a key role on the penalty kill.
 
Alain Vigneault isn't going anywhere.

The Philadelphia Flyers head coach will back for the 2021-22 campaign, general manager Chuck Fletcher told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun this week.

"Absolutely. AV's our coach and we're excited to have he and his staff back next season," Fletcher said without hesitation, according to LeBrun. "We have a lot of work ahead of us to redefine our defensive game and our defensive structure. I can't think of a better group to do it than the group of experienced coaches that we have behind our bench right now."


Fletcher added that the Flyers didn't meet expectations in 2021. The club missed the playoffs this season with a 25-23-8 record after posting the NHL's fourth-best record in the previous campaign.

The Flyers allowed the most goals against per game in the league and finished last in save percentage while producing a minus-38 goal differential. Franchise netminder Carter Hart owned the NHL's worst goals saved above expected and goals saved above average totals in all situations.

"You have no chance to be successful giving up the number of chances and the number of goals that we did this year," Fletcher said.

Philadelphia was expected to continue to make strides after finishing strong and winning a postseason series on the strength of a solid defensive effort in 2019-20. However, steady blue-liner Matt Niskanen surprisingly retired in October, and Fletcher said he should have done more to replace him.

"I did a poor job of filling that void," the GM said. "It wasn't for a lack of trying, but we didn't do what we needed to do. And that falls on me."

Vigneault reportedly signed a five-year, $25-million contract when the Flyers hired him in April 2019. The longtime bench boss, who turned 60 on Friday, previously guided the New York Rangers for five seasons, the Vancouver Canucks for seven, and the Montreal Canadiens for parts of four to begin his NHL coaching career.
 
It's not a Mark Messier guarantee but it's bold nonetheless

Ryan O'Reilly didn't say, "I guarantee," but the St. Louis Blues captain clearly believes his team will upset the NHL's top squad in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"It's exciting for us," O'Reilly said Thursday night. "We know we can beat this team and do some damage here."

"We know that they have a lot of talent over there and they work hard, but for us, it's an exciting challenge," the Blues star added. "We're going have some fun and we're going to beat them."


The Avalanche clinched the Presidents' Trophy to claim the NHL's best record with a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

Colorado scored the most goals per game and surrendered the third-fewest per contest in 2021 while authoring the NHL's second-best goal differential. The Avalanche also led the league in goals for percentage at five-on-five and expected goals for percentage in the same situations, according to Natural Stat Trick.

O'Reilly, who played his first six seasons with Colorado, led the Blues with 24 goals and ranked second with 30 assists while playing all 56 games this season. St. Louis named him captain in December following Alex Pietrangelo's departure in October.

The Avalanche finished atop the West Division with a 39-13-4 record, while the Blues finished fourth at 27-20-9.

Colorado won five of the eight meetings between the clubs during the regular season, though St. Louis won the last two, both on home ice.

Game 1 of their first-round series is scheduled for Monday night in Denver.
 
Washington Capitals netminder Vitek Vanecek exited during the first period of Saturday's Game 1 against the Boston Bruins with an apparent injury.

Veteran puck-stopper Craig Anderson took over in net for the Capitals.

The play occurred on a goal by Jake DeBrusk. The Bruins winger beat Vanecek with a quick shot off the faceoff, and the Russian goalie appeared to tweak something while attempting to make the stop.



The game marked Vanecek's postseason debut after the 25-year-old posted a .908 save percentage and 2.69 goals-against average through 37 appearances in his first NHL season.

Anderson, 39, made his first playoff appearance since 2016-17.
 
The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders will both be without a key player for Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.

Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin is out after being absent from the pregame warmup, Pittsburgh confirmed Sunday. Meanwhile, the Islanders are starting rookie goaltender Ilya Sorokin over Semyon Varlamov. The veteran netminder is dealing with a lower-body injury, New York head coach Barry Trotz said Saturday, according to The Athletic's Arthur Staple.

Malkin played in the Penguins' final four regular-season games after missing 23 contests with a lower-body injury. The 34-year-old was limited to 33 games in 2021. He collected eight goals and 20 assists while logging a career-low average ice time of 17:44.


Varlamov went 19-11-4 with a .929 save percentage over 36 appearances during the 2021 regular season. Sorokin, 25, went 13-6-3 with a .918 save percentage in 22 contests.
 
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