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

PHILADELPHIA — After a tortuous and sensational trial, Carter Hart and the four other members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior hockey team accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room after a Hockey Canada celebration in London, Ontario, were found not guilty Thursday.

Not innocent. Just not guilty. And resoundingly so.

Justice ...Read more

DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche are moving on from Oskar Olausson.

The Avs sent the 2021 first-round pick to San Jose in a trade that brought back two-way forward Danil Gushchin, the team announced on Friday afternoon.

Olausson never found his footing at the NHL level, appearing in just four games total with the Avs after being selected with...Read more

Carter Hart will not face prison time after Justice Maria Carroccia found the former Flyers goaltender not guilty on the count of sexual assault.

According to media outlets present at the Ontario Superior Court house in London, Ontario, Carroccia started announcing her decision Thursday by saying: “Having found that I cannot rely upon the ...Read more

ATLANTA — Before we get into the story of the first day that the Stanley Cup ever spent in Atlanta as the guest of an NHL championship team member, it’s important to know a little bit about the cup itself.

Quite arguably, it is the greatest and most tradition-bound trophy in North American sports. First awarded in 1893, Lord Stanley’s Cup...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Last week, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement that will commence with the 2026-27 season and run through 2030.

The deal, which was agreed to a full year before the current CBA expires next July, notably came together rather smoothly and with ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Three bits of news in seven days, two likely involving the NHL club, and one gigantic question surrounding the Penguins: Why not orient everything they do in 2025-26 toward the idea of hopefully obtaining teenage phenom Gavin McKenna?

Answer: It appears that's exactly what they're doing, even if you won't hear the franchise talk ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Nikolaj Ehlers put the whole players-don’t-want-to-play-here narrative perpetuated by the summary departures of Jake Guentzel and Mikko Rantanen quickly to rest by taking less money to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes.

That was actually the least of what the arrival of the skilled Danish winger did for the Hurricanes last ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Penn State knows a thing or two about landing a top recruit. From Derrick Williams to Christian Hackenberg to Miles Sanders to Micah Parsons, the Nittany Lions have landed their fair share of blue-chippers through the years.

Gavin McKenna might be bigger than them all.

But you won’t find McKenna’s name scrolling through ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — We all had our shopping lists ready as July 1 approached. NHL free agency was near, and Wild President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin was finally in position to show how he can shape a roster with no salary limitations.

It has been difficult to assess Guerin’s tenure with the Wild since July 2021, when he bought out the ...Read more

DENVER — Brent Burns has lived a full hockey life.

He’s won international tournaments. He’s won the Norris Trophy. He’s been a guest star on one of his favorite television shows. He’s appeared on the cover of a sports magazine in his birthday suit.

He will almost certainly have a plaque in the Great Hall someday at the Hockey Hall of...Read more

CHICAGO — Big-time players are expected to show up in big-time games, and Chicago Blackhawks forward prospect Anton Frondell is the first to admit that he didn’t.

Tournaments such as the IIHF Under-18 World Championship in Frisco, Texas, in May are the kind of showcase where top prospects like Frondell cement their elite status — a ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers signed Dan Vladar when free agency began Tuesday. A third-round pick of the Bruins in 2015, the Czechia native, who turns 28 next month, just completed his fifth season of an unremarkable career that jump-started when Tuukka Rask left the COVID playoff bubble in 2020 to tend to his sick daughter.

Vladar’s save ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks hoped they accomplished two things at once Thursday when they added veterans Dmitry Orlov and Nick Leddy to their revamped roster: addressing the shortcomings on defense and increasing the competition for ice time on a suddenly crowded blue line.

The Sharks continued what’s been a busy week as they ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — It took a few extra days, adding to the suspense, but for the Carolina Hurricanes it was worth the wait.

The Canes on Thursday signed free-agent forward Nikolaj Ehlers, a proven point-producer they believe can bolster the lineup and help them better contend for a Stanley Cup.

Ehlers agreed on a six-year contract that will pay...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The spotlight was blinding for Mitch Marner. Like nothing you can imagine.

That’s what it meant for a hometown kid to be playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs over nine seasons.

For being a superstar in such a hockey-centric world.

The intense pressure that comes from wearing a Maple Leafs jersey. The grand expectations of, well...Read more

SEATTLE — The muskie is affectionately referred to as “the fish of 10,000 casts.”

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service attributes that moniker to “their power, size, and difficulty of being caught due to their elusive nature.” On Monday, Jake O’Brien said something similar, three days after the Kraken selected the 18-year-old center ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Out with the old and in with the new seemed to be a Carolina Hurricanes theme Tuesday on the first day of NHL free agency, at least defensively.

Gone are veteran defensemen Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov, who each left Carolina as free agents. Coming to the Hurricanes is 25-year-old defenseman K’Andre Miller, who agreed to an ...Read more