WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Most seventh-round picks in the NHL draft are essentially lottery tickets. If everything goes right in their development, they just might hit. But the Lightning view those late picks in an entirely different way — less about luck, more about projection and even more about process.

In June’s draft, half of the ...Read more

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tristan Broz has shown at every stop on his path to the pros that he is capable of scoring goals. He pumped in two more in Monday’s 6-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres, giving him three in his three games at the Prospects Challenge.

But heading into this summer, the Penguins told the rising forward prospect that if he wanted ...Read more

CASTLE PINES, Colo. — Brock Nelson was tempted to take a look around, but ultimately decided he had already found his new home.

Nelson could have been the top center available when the free-agent market opened July 1. Given that the salary cap ceiling increased more than in the past five years combined, with more big jumps coming in the next ...Read more

DENVER — Doubt Gavin Brindley at your own peril.

Some of his Michigan teammates learned their lesson late in his freshman season. Brindley was a little late getting ready for a Big Ten tournament semifinal matchup with archrival Ohio State. His coach said Brindley might have had a skate issue.

A couple of his friends on the team gave him ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Everybody knows the trouble the Flyers have seen. It has been more than five years since they qualified for the playoffs. It has been more than 13 years since they won a postseason series that wasn’t contested in a pandemic-necessitated bubble. It has been more than 15 years since they advanced beyond the postseason’s second...Read more

Day 2 of Chicago Blackhawks rookie camp involved a brief exchange of words that led to a skate cutting a player’s face and f-bombs hurled at teammates.

That builds team chemistry, according to Rockford IceHogs coach Jared Nightingale.

“Hockey is an emotional sport — I think it’s good,” Nightingale said. “I saw a couple players ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — It's possible that Sidney Crosby has softened his stance on being a Penguin for life. It'd be understandable, too. But I also have to wonder if Crosby might be quarterbacking a power play to get Mario Lemieux back in the building.

Either way, this is by far the biggest story in Pittsburgh sports at the moment. Crosby's powerful ...Read more

While the Florida Panthers will enter the 2025-26 season and their attempt to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup — without star winger Matthew Tkachuk — Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said he feels the Panthers are positioned to handle his early absence.

Tkachuk, who played through a torn adductor ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — A little more than two decades ago, a pair of draft picks made 15 months apart changed the trajectory of Pittsburgh sports.

Ben Roethlisberger and Sidney Crosby.

A franchise quarterback for the Steelers, the proper hockey heir to Mario Lemieux. Legacies, Pittsburghers, three-letter names, Hall of Famers.

Could we see a repeat? ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Katie Gaudreau recalled a moment after last year’s charity golf tournament. As she was leaving the clubhouse with her sister, Kristen Venello, and her brother, Johnny, he said, “I want to make next year’s event better,” as they got into the car.

But Johnny didn’t get the chance. The seven-time NHL All-Star and his ...Read more

DENVER — Peter Forsberg needs pants.

He is checking golf clubs for the flight from Sweden, not hockey equipment. So a pair of breezers and some shoulder pads were his simple requests to play in the Colorado Faceoff — a benefit game pitting former Avalanche and Denver greats against each other Sunday at 5 p.m. at Magness Arena.

“I told ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — It may not feel like it, considering the recent sweltering weather outside, but hockey season is just around the corner.

In about a month’s time, the Flyers will reconvene in Voorhees, N.J., for training camp — without the anxiety of facing John Tortorella’s rope test this year — and embark on the next step in their ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Eight years ago, the only smoke surrounding the Penguins came from victory cigars and Stanley Cup parades. Little different these days.

While on-ice news has been eerily quiet, conversation has shifted from their rebuilding timeline to this:

The Penguins are for sale, right?

It's also impossible to ignore potential ...Read more

DENVER — More than 30,000 fans of top-selling Colorado author Rebecca Yarros rushed this week to buy VIP tickets to a themed Colorado Avalanche night in her honor. But so many were shut out that Yarros posted a public apology and vowed to bring it back next year.

“I’m so sorry that yesterday’s sale for Fourth Wing Night with the ...Read more

CHICAGO — A former public relations manager for the Chicago Blackhawks filed a discrimination lawsuit against the team this week, alleging he was wrongfully fired after sharing his experiences as a gay man in an article with Outsports, a site covering LGBTQ+ sports news.

Anthony Filomena, the former employee, filed the suit Thursday in ...Read more

MIAMI — Star winger Matthew Tkachuk still hasn’t decided if he’s going to have surgery to remedy a pair of injuries with the Florida Panthers just under two months away from beginning the 2025-26 NHL season and their quest for a third consecutive Stanley Cup.

Tkachuk told ESPN on Friday that he’s still weighing his options. However, if ...Read more

CHICAGO — Patrick Kane is back — for a day, anyway. And now his name is part of Chicago lore forever.

Aug. 8 was always a day of celebration of the career of Kane for Blackhawks fans — after all, he donned the No. 88 sweater for 16 seasons with the franchise. The official recognition came Friday from Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, who ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Ty Murchison rubbed out Jack Nesbitt along the wall during a drill on the first day of Flyers development camp earlier this month.

The 2021 fifth-rounder, who is 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, made sure he did it with noticeable authority. And not just because he was taking out Nesbitt, the 6-5, 185-pound center who was drafted 12th ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — It's the perfect — and percolating — Pittsburgh storyline, the possibility of Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux repurchasing the Penguins.

News broke on June 11 that the group of Burkle, Lemieux and David Morehouse was considering trying to buy back the Penguins from the Fenway Sports Group, and I've since confirmed that interest ...Read more