A wise hockey man once said that it's the legs that feed the wolves. That same man, the legendary Herb Brooks, repeated the word "again" to his players as they bag-skated after a lackluster effort during an exhibition game. 

Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill, who has also had his fair share of time with USA Hockey as a head coach, had his players participate in a bag skate more than once during the first two days of training camp. 

Although the Blackhawks are a team with a lot of young talent, that youth can be a detriment when playing against some of the best players in the world. Being well-conditioned is a way to combat those troubles. 

By the end of multiple up and down skates, the players at Blackhawks camp were bent over trying to catch their breath. Nobody is complaining; it is just a tough drill after an hour of intense hockey practice. 

"Some of the best bonding is when you go through struggles together," Blashill said. "The guys did a great job. It's the kind of work ethic we're going to have to have."

Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) on XConditioning drills. #BlackhawksCharlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) on XThe final result after conditioning drills. Jeff Blashill is not easing them into this training camp, that’s for sure. #Blackhawks

Sometimes, out-thinking and out-working teams can be a key to victory. The Blackhawks aren't going to be the deepest team in the NHL, and there is a lot of inexperience, but they won't be tired or giving weak effort.

"He's just trying to make sure we understand we're going to be a skating team, so we need to be in great shape," Captain Nick Foligno said after practice. "I think he's got to be impressed with how well we do on that."

Not every player on the team is considered young in hockey years, but guys like Nick Foligno know what it takes to be a good, fast team in the NHL. It sounds like he's ready for the next challenge. 

When it came to setting the tone for the skating drills at the end, Sam Rinzel and Matt Grzelcyk (PTO) set the tone. Each of them can skate like the wind, and it was on full display during these bag-skates. 

Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) on XMatt Grzelcyk looks like Katie Ledecky

Skating like this is hard and the marks of the early part of camp, but it will be worth it in the end when the Blackhawks are not out-worked or out-conditioned by anyone. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

Training camp is underway for the New Jersey Devils, and general manager Tom Fitzgerald provided an update on defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic, who has been sidelined with a knee injury.

Kovacevic was hurt during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season against the Carolina Hurricanes. He underwent knee surgery on May 8, and on July 2 the Devils announced he would miss part of the regular season. Ahead of camp, team reporter Amanda Stein confirmed that he would not participate.

Now, Fitzgerald has suggested the absence may last even longer.

“We might not see him before the New Year,” Fitzgerald told the media.

Kovacevic emerged as a reliable presence on the Devils’ blue line last season, appearing in 81 games and posting career highs with 16 assists and 17 points, along with one goal. He was acquired from the Canadiens on June 30, 2024. On March 7, 2025, the Devils signed him to a five-year, $20 million contract ($4 million AAV).

With his extended absence, younger players now have an opportunity to step into the lineup.

One of the top candidates is Simon Nemec, the second overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. Nemec played 27 games last season, recording four points, and is eager to secure a full-time role. At 24 years old, he is viewed as a strong replacement option on the right side.

Another option is Seamus Casey, who impressed at the Devils’ Prospect Challenge. Drafted 46th overall in 2022, Casey made his NHL debut last season, appearing in 14 games and contributing four points. At just 21, he is still developing, but could be a viable candidate to fill the gap.

While the expectation was that the 28-year-old Kovacevic would miss the start of the season, Fitzgerald’s update suggests the vacancy on defense could be more long term. Fortunately for New Jersey, the organization has several promising young players ready to step up.

A new NHL season is upon us.

All 32 teams across the league have officially opened their 2025 training camps, and this weekend we’ll see the first preseason games take place.

It’s truly an incredibly exciting time for hockey fans.

A fresh season means high hopes and expectations, as everyone gets to start with a clean slate.

Before the action kicks off in the coming days, The Hockey Show decided to start a new tradition.

Hosts Roy Bellamy and David Dwork ranked all 32 NHL teams in six different tiers, with each tier created by THS producer Rose Arias.

The top tier is simply “The Florida Panthers” because no team is at Florida’s level right now.

Check out their rankings in the video below and let us know in the comments where you agree or disagree.

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Play It Again - Jan. 20 2023 - Vol. 76 Issue 9 - Jacob Stoller

(JONATHAN KOZUB/MANITOBA MOOSE)

IT WAS NOVEMBER 2020, at the height of COVID-19 restrictions in Canada, and Jeff Malott was going stir crazy. After signing a pro contract with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose following his senior season at Cornell University, Malott had spent nearly seven months training for a 2020-21 campaign that kept getting pushed back. Malott’s older brother, UFC fighter Michael Malott, recalls how Jeff’s frustration mounted into discouragement. “It’s funny now because there were times when he was like, ‘I’m 24, I need to get on with my life and do something. I can’t just be bumming around training,’” Michael said.

Jeff needed ways to occupy his time. So the native of Burlington, Ont., eventually gathered some of his old hockey gear and went to trade it in at a local sports store. It was there that Malott met the store’s owner, Mark Hoppe. The two hit it off right away. As they rummaged through the equipment, Malott explained that – what with on-ice training being sporadic during the pandemic – he had been feeling bored. Hoppe said he was short-staffed and could use help if Malott was interested in working retail. And just like that, Malott began working as a sales associate at Play It Again Sports. “I didn’t think that coming out of college with an Ivy League degree that I’d be working at a Play It Again Sports for 14 bucks an hour,” Malott said. “But you know what, I loved it. It was something to do.”

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Hoppe says Malott was excellent in his nearly three-month stint in retail. “He dealt with all types of customers, from three-year-olds to senior citizens, fantastically,” Hoppe said.

Hoppe was particularly struck by Malott’s work ethic, especially when learning skills he probably wouldn’t need in his future – like sharpening skates. Hoppe requires his employees to take a skate-sharpening test before working on customers, and he says Malott passed it quicker than just about anybody he’s employed. “The other team members loved him,” Hoppe said. “They were upset when he left. It took a few days for them to get over that.”

(JONATHAN KOZUB/MANITOBA MOOSE)

In the now two-plus years since working at Play It Again Sports, Malott has signed two NHL contracts, made his NHL debut for the Winnipeg Jets and established himself as one of the AHL’s best goal-scorers since entering the league. Strangely, Malott was never much of a lamp-lighter in college, registering exactly six goals in each of his four NCAA seasons. “At Cornell, he was tasked to play defensive hockey and match up against the other teams’ top line all the time,” said Jets center Morgan Barron, Malott’s college roommate and teammate. “He was so good at it. It just seemed like that was the way he would contribute at the next level.”

At Cornell, the 6-foot-3 left winger was renowned as the ultimate teammate. “He’s a culture guy, someone you want in your organization,” said Cornell coach Mike Schafer. “Winnipeg did a great job in doing their homework and signing a guy like him.”

Malott, who cracked the NCAA all-academic team in each of his four seasons at Cornell, was voted by his teammates as a team captain in his senior year. That season made for some of his fondest memories in Ithaca, N.Y., with the Big Red ranked first in the country by USA Today at the time the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2019-20 season. “We kinda thought we’d all be back in a couple of weeks and finish things up,” Malott said. “I still feel like there’s no closure on that year.”

While working at Play It Again Sports, Malott told Hoppe about how he and his father, Murray, were planning to build an ice rink in the backyard of their home. Hoppe was quick to offer Malott to borrow anything he needed for it. “Hoppe would just be like, ‘Take whatever equipment you need. Need a shooting pad? Take it. An NHL-quality net? Take it,’” Malott said. “He was the biggest help ever.”

Malott never got to skate on the outdoor rink – joining the ECHL’s Florida Everblades before it was ready – but he still put the equipment to good use. In addition to a synthetic-ice shooting pad and a net, Hoppe gave Malott a give-and-go passing aid that would fire the puck back at him after he passed to it. Malott nailed a quarter of a hockey stick on top of a couple of pucks, building a contraption to stickhandle under. Day after day, Malott queued up a 30- to 45-minute audio playlist and refined his skills in his parents’ driveway. He’d simulate hundreds of different types of shots. Catch-and-releases. Retrieval-and-releases. Quick one-timers. “The area of my game that needed to be improved the most was what I was able to work on the most during that time,” he said.

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His Cornell teammates remember Malott working on similar game-like scenarios after practices. “He’d work on his shot in awkward positions,” said Bakersfield Condors defenseman Yanni Kaldis, another of Malott’s college roommates. “Shots where the pass may not be perfect, but you need to get it off as quickly as possible.”

And as it would turn out, Malott’s first career AHL goal came from an awkward angle. In Manitoba’s fourth game of the 2020-21 season, against the Toronto Marlies, Malott – who had been in and out of the lineup early on – corralled the puck at the top right of the faceoff circle, rifled a shot and scored through the narrowest of openings above the goalie’s shoulder. That goal was the catalyst for Malott’s breakout rookie campaign. A few games later, he got an opportunity on the first line alongside David Gustafsson and Nathan Todd. It was there he ended up spending the majority of the year. After scoring a team-high 14 goals that season, the Jets signed Malott to an entry-level contract. “Potential like that is something you can’t turn your back on,” Kaldis said.

Heading into his second year as a pro, Malott was a prime regression candidate for 2021-22. With NHL taxi squads eliminated, the AHL’s talent level went way up, and there was every reason to believe he could fade into the background. But Malott kept chugging along, potting 23 goals and again finishing as Manitoba’s leading goal-scorer. During 2021-22, Malott’s scoring evolved still further. He dominated the home-plate area, leveraging his physical attributes to become an imposing power forward.

(JONATHAN KOZUB/MANITOBA MOOSE)

Throughout that season, Malott’s sound fundamentals left his teammates in awe. “Kind of like a center in basketball, he’s able to use his butt to create space for himself,” said former Moose teammate and current San Jose Sharks right winger Michael Eyssimont.

Malott evolved into one of Manitoba’s leaders that year, carrying over the type of impact he had within Cornell’s dressing room to that of the Jets’ AHL affiliate. “I couldn’t think of a better guy to have in the locker room to help some of the young prospects when they’re first starting in the AHL,” Barron said.

Having seen the impact Malott had on his staff, Hoppe isn’t surprised that Malott is a well-respected teammate. “He’s easy to talk with, and he’s relatable,” Hoppe said. “He’s not a higher-than-thou (type). He showed it when he came to work with us when he could have just been sitting at home doing nothing or just focusing on his trade of hockey.”

On top of being lauded for being a caring and friendly teammate, Malott is known to be quite the jester. He’ll do anything to make his teammates laugh. A prime example of that went viral at the end of a game against the Chicago Wolves in February 2022. After burying the shootout winner, Malott walked right off the ice and down the tunnel – executing the ultimate clutch celebration after winning the game for Manitoba. “As much as that celebration went viral and he got a little bit of fame or glory from it, he didn’t care about that,” Barron said. “He wanted to entertain the guys and keep everybody happy. That’s the guy he is.”

With Winnipeg signing Malott to a two-year pact this past off-season, there’s no doubt the Jets organization is as fond of the person Malott is as they are of the player. And this season, where it’s easy to overlook a Jeff Malott on the Jets’ depth chart, he’s continued to elevate his game – evolving as one of Manitoba’s most trusted penalty-killers.

“He’s the type of kid who knows what he has to be to try to break into the NHL,” said Moose coach Mark Morrison. “And that’s on the defensive side of the puck. He’s got to be strong on the walls and a good penalty-killer. But I think if you talk to coaches around the NHL, players in those types of roles, third- or fourth-liners and penalty-killers, they need to provide offense, too. So, if you look at his well-rounded game, he’s getting there.”

At the end of the day, the story of Jeff Malott boils down to a player repeatedly seizing the moment. And staying focused. “That just kind of shows you how much of hockey is mental and how much of hockey is about confidence and opportunity,” said Montreal Canadiens defenseman and former Moose teammate Johnathan Kovacevic. “That’s all credit to him, to stick with it. He’s always had those abilities, but in the last couple of years, he’s really stepped into his own and grown his game tremendously.”

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are abandoning the five-forward top power play unit they adopted all last season. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube revealed that defenseman Morgan Rielly will get the first look running the point on the power play.

"For me, it's Morgan," Berube said. "He's done it in the past year, and they've had success. So for me, it's him right now".

Last season, Mitch Marner played the point on the club's power play, creating a five-forward formation. Marner’s back skating ability and reps in that spot made for an ideal overload on offense. However, with Marner departing to the Vegas Golden Knights this summer, the more traditional look of one defenseman on the point and four forwards with the man-advantage will return.

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Rielly has occupied that role for much of his career with the Maple Leafs and started in that role last season. But as the defenseman struggled, players like Oliver Ekman-Larsson were also given an opportunity on PP1 before Marner took over the role for much of the 2024-25 season.

Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving recently revealed that he had a conversation at the end of last season with Rielly, and the player took it to heart. The club wants to see an improvement in the player's game, and unlocking more offense could help in that regard. Rielly had seven goals and 34 assists last season. Only one of his goals came by way of the power play.

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The Leafs finished last season with the ninth-best power play in the NHL, and they will be in tough to try and replicate that efficiency with Marner out. As for how the rest of the units will look, that will be revealed in the days to come. After two on-ice sessions, the Leafs have yet to work on special teams.

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Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek is no stranger to difficult contract negotiations when it comes to RFAs under team control, especially if those players don’t hold arbitration rights.

Coming off of his ELC, 22-year-old center Mason McTavish has now missed two full days of a pivotal training camp preceding a season where the Ducks’ internal expectations are to make the 2026 NHL Playoffs.

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"Talks are ongoing, and we've made a lot of progress over the summer, but we're not there yet. So, until we get there, he won't be here,” Verbeek said when addressing the media on the opening day of training camp.

“I've known (McTavish's agent) Pat Morris for a long time, so we both understand each other and know how each other goes about their business, so it's just totally fine.

“We're closing in, I would say. But, like I said, we're not there yet. So, both sides have to agree to a deal.”

McTavish is seemingly a core member of the Ducks moving forward, but that hasn’t stopped his name from appearing on nearly every media outlet’s list of potential trade targets league-wide.

Premier NHL insider Elliotte Friedman may have thrown some cold water on some of that speculation on Friday morning when he took to his “32 Thoughts” podcast.

“Teams have called Verbeek, as you can imagine, about, ‘Hey, if you can't sign this guy and can't agree with this guy, we'd love to trade for him.’ And I think Verbeek has told everybody to get lost.”

Similar to McTavish now, two previous members of the expected future core of the franchise missed time in camp under a new head coach in the summer of 2023: Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, when Greg Cronin was first hired.

Both Zegras and Drysdale struggled to get up to speed in camp, initially struggled, got injured, and are now members of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Drysdale was traded in Jan. 2024 along with a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for Cutter Gauthier. Immediately after Drysdale departed, Zegras’ name was in trade rumors for the next year and a half until he was shipped out for Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick.

Throughout the duration of Zegras’ name at the top of trade boards, when asked about it, Verbeek would reply with an answer suggesting he would do what he thought made the Ducks better or would give a “Hey, even Gretzky was traded” response. Nothing resembling a “get lost” report was to be found in media discussions surrounding Zegras during the previous 18 months.

Sentiments surrounding Verbeek and the organization suggest they seem committed to McTavish down the middle for the foreseeable future. Friedman stated that the two sides prefer or are receptive to a long-term agreement.

“I’ve heard it in several different places; no one has disputed it to me, but the Ducks do not want to do a bridge,” Friedman continued. “They want to do longer term here, and I do believe McTavish is receptive to that. I think he is willing to go long-term here.”

The holdup seems to be the discrepancy of desired AAV on said long-term deal, but the sooner the sides can agree, especially under a new coaching staff, the better it will be for all parties involved.

“It's disappointing that he's not here. Yeah, virtually a whole new coaching staff, and the group's really excited like I've never seen before, Verbeek said. “There’s a new system that's getting implemented. There's a lot of things to learn, and it takes a lot of reps to get it under each player's belt.

“When Mason gets here, he's got a lot of catching up to do. I've been through this scenario.

It's not easy to join mid-camp or miss (the) whole camp. Camp is a very important part of a player's preparedness to go into the season, and so from that aspect, it's disappointing.”

Quenneville and newly appointed assistant coach Jay Woodcroft may have to be delicate with getting McTavish up to speed when he eventually joins the team as not to put the team behind the eight ball or risk injury to the player in an effort for him to catch up to where his teammates are in camp.

“Well, I think the guys are all professional. You’ve got to take care of what you can control, and in McTavish’s case, we'd love to see him here, and we're understanding,” Quenneville added when interviewed by media. “These things happen. I'm looking forward to coaching him, and at some point, I expect that to happen.”

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Dec 31, 2010; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero in attendance during practice the day before the 2011 Winter Classic against the Washington Capitals at Heinz Field. Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Ray Shero left a lasting legacy on the Nashville Predators and the hockey world in general before his passing last April.

On Friday, The National Hockey League announced that Shero has been named the recipient of the 2025 Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States.

The annual award, one of the most prestigious in hockey, was presented to the National Hockey League by the New York Rangers in 1966. It honors the memory of Lester Patrick, who spent 50 years in hockey as a player, coach and general manager and was a pioneer in the sport’s development.

Shero, a native of Saint Paul, Minn., who passed away April 9 at the age of 62, spent 13 seasons as an NHL general manager, including a Stanley Cup championship season with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008-09. He also served as GM of the New Jersey Devils, in addition to long stints as an executive with the Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild.

“Ray Shero’s legacy as an NHL executive is immortalized by the engraving of his name on the Stanley Cup and the success of the Players he scouted, drafted and traded for in Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Ottawa, Nashville and Minnesota,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “His contributions to growing the game in the United States are similarly noteworthy and extensive – from captaining his team at St. Lawrence University to helping assemble 13 U.S. World Championships teams to serving as an associate general manager for the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team.

“However, his true legacy will be as a man who embodied the best of our game: fierce competition on the ice and welcoming fellowship off the ice. Widely respected throughout hockey for his team-building acumen and eye for talent, he was even more beloved for how he treated everyone fortunate enough to have known him.”

After a four-year playing career at St. Lawrence University, Shero worked as a player agent for seven years before becoming Assistant General Manager of the Senators in 1993. He spent five seasons in that position, before moving on to the same role with the Predators in 1998.

Shero was a key figure in guiding the Predators through their first eight years of existence in the NHL. He and former Preds general manager David Poile were close friends, with Shero attending Poile’s induction into the Hockey Hall Of Fame last November.

Following his time in Nashville, Shero was hired as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Penguins in 2006. He helped build the Penguins squad that went to consecutive Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 and 2009 and emerged victorious over the Detroit Red Wings in the second of those two trips to capture the franchise’s third Stanley Cup.

Shero then became Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Devils in 2015. His last NHL role came in June of 2021, when he joined the Wild as Senior Advisor to the General Manager, a position which he still held at the time of his passing.