The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that they are placing former Montreal Canadiens forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard on waivers.
Harvey-Pinard is one of five players that the Penguins are placing on waivers, as they also announced that Alexander Alexeyev, Ryan Graves, Boko Imama, and Sam Poulin will be hitting the wire.
The following players have been assigned to @WBSPenguins (AHL) training camp: - Tristan Broz - Avery Hayes - Sergei Murashov - Owen Pickering Alexander Alexeyev, Ryan Graves, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Boko Imama and Sam Poulin will be placed on waivers at 2:00 PM and will be assigned…
If Harvey-Pinard clears waivers, the Penguins will officially assign him to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Harvey-Pinard signed a one-year deal with the Penguins in free agency this summer after he did not receive a qualifying offer from the Canadiens. This was after he posted five goals and 19 points in 40 games with the Canadiens' AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, last season. He also played in one game for the Canadiens in 2024-25, where he was held off the scoresheet.
Harvey-Pinard was selected by the Canadiens with the 201st overall pick of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. In 84 games over four seasons with the Canadiens from 2021-22 to 2024-25, he recorded 17 goals, 14 assists, 31 points, 117 hits, and a plus-3 rating. His best season with the Canadiens was in 2022-23, as he set career highs with 14 goals and 20 points in 34 games.
Boro slip to Pompey defeat, Leicester see off Swansea
Frank Lampard praised his side’s stirring second-half display after Coventry went top of the Championship with a 5-0 rout of Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.
Brandon Thomas-Asante scored twice in the first half with Haji Wright adding a third on the stroke of half-time. Substitute Ellis Simms and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto added further goals in the second period to complete a comprehensive victory.
The NHL coaching industry is a tough one. Year after year, coaches are fired and hired with alarming regularity. So any time a coach can get a modicum of job security, you can’t fault them for lunging to get it.
In the past few days, the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames re-committed to their coaches by signing them to multi-year contract extensions, but the expectations for Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch and Flames counterpart Ryan Huska are significantly different.
The first Alberta coach to get an extension this week was Huska, who agreed to a two-year contract extension on Thursday. The 50-year-old nearly steered Calgary into a Stanley Cup playoff spot last season, Huska’s second as Flames coach. Huska improved the Flames’ record by three wins in 2024-25, but he’s still very much part of a Calgary franchise that is trying to retool on the fly.
So the expectations for Huska are (a) to keep the Flames competitive, and (b) to integrate Calgary’s young players into the mix and set the table for a new generation of Flames players. He’s now under contract through the 2027-28 campaign, so Huska has a lot of landing strip to get the job done.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch got an extension of his own. The 47-year-old received a three-year extension, lasting through the 2028-29 season. Knoblauch has come agonizingly close to guiding the Oilers to a Cup, making it to the Cup final for the past two years.
His job is to win and win now, and he has less time to stick the landing than Huska does. The reality of the coaching profession is such that both Knoblauch and Huska know that failure to improve will almost assuredly cut short their time behind the bench.
That’s the main takeaway here. The history of modern-day coaching at the NHL level is littered with examples of coaches who never fulfill the full term of their contract after being fired by their employer when they are unable to deliver great things. Having the financial security of a long-term extension is great for coaches, but that doesn’t reduce the pressure they face to produce.
There’s always a shiny new coaching toy available for NHL GMs to be intrigued by, and the longer you go without major success as a coach, the easier it is for teams to move on from you.
Time will tell whether the Flames and Oilers were right to extend Huska’s and Knoblauch’s contracts, but handing out an extension tells your players that their coach isn’t a lame-duck coach, and that’s an important message to send in both these examples.
What it doesn’t do, though, is guarantee any one coach they’ll be running things in their current city for the long haul. When you win a Cup, you can assure yourself of regular coaching work for years to come, but even then, some Cup-winning coaches eventually have to move on to a different team.
Coaching is a zero-sum profession that rewards positive results and punishes negative results. Edmonton and Calgary have seen enough positives from Knoblauch and Huska to provide the security every coach is looking for. They now have the assurance they’ll be well-compensated for a good long while, but the day-to-day pressures on them will continue as long as they’re working in that role.
That constant pressure is a built-in part of the job, and if you don’t acclimate well to it, you’re going to be out of work sooner than later.
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So, push has now come to shove. Figuring out how to spend a bye week, like the Phillies just completed, was the biggest task presented them this week as the Los Angeles Dodgers were disposing of the Cincinnati Reds in a National League Wild Card Series.
The Phillies handled their week with work. After a day off on Monday, there was a fundamental-based practice on Tuesday, followed by an intrasquad scrimmage on Wednesday in front of 31,000 fans. A couple more days of staying sharp and now it’s here – Game One of the National League Division Series, with Dodgers righty Shohei Ohtani facing Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez.
The week off is as much mentally challenging as it is physically. Taking time off during a season just isn’t the norm, except for the All-Star Break. And if there’s anything baseball players and managers don’t like, it’s having their routine disrupted. Add in all the talk about whether it’s good or not to spend some days away from the diamond at this point of the year, and it probably becomes more of a dilemma than it really needs to be.
“It’s an advantage if you win the first series and it’s a disadvantage if you don’t,” said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.
In essence, the Phillies have already won a series with the bye, while the Dodgers made quick work of the Reds, finishing them off in two games and outscoring them by a combined 18-9. During that series, Dodgers starters Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto worked 13 2/3 innings and allowed just eight hits and two earned runs while striking out 18.
How the Phillies hitters fare in this series against the Dodgers starters is going to be a huge factor. In their three-game series in Los Angeles in the middle of September, the Phillies were no-hit during Ohtani’s five innings, got two hits, no runs and struck out 12 times in Snell’s seven innings and were able to garner only one hit and one run in Emmet Sheehan’s 5 2/3 innings.
Should the Phillies get shut down by the Los Angeles starters to begin this series, you just know the airwaves are going to be filled with talks about the disadvantages of the bye.
Said Trea Turner: “I say it till I’m blue in the face. It’s just an excuse one way or the other. You’ve got to show up and you’ve got to win. You either win or you don’t.”
And Nick Castellanos had some thoughts, saying: “Obviously (like having) the bye because we’re closer to the World Series. But I think if there was a way to play competitive baseball, not have the outcome knock us out, we get the bye no matter what, I think that’s personally what I wish could happen. I just know how important rhythm is and consistency is to a game like baseball because of how difficult it is.”
For manager Rob Thomson, the week couldn’t have gone any better. Now it’s time to see if that pays off or not.
“I’m telling you, the intrasquad game just put it over the top, with all these people here,” he said. “It really did. Case in point, it was, I forget what inning it was, and there was a runner on first and Nick (Castellanos) hit a ground ball. Double play and he ran hard all the way through the base. Whereas, if there’s nobody in the stands, probably doesn’t happen. Those are the little things that I look at and say that was worth it.”
What - Game 6 (1-3-1) When - 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 4 Where - Bridgestone Arena; Nashville, TN How to Watch - hurricanes.com (only viewable in the local TV viewing area)
The Carolina Hurricanes will be icing nearly their entire main NHL roster tonight in Nashville in their final preseason game of the year.
The Canes have trimmed their roster down to 25 players and the only players who will be sitting out tonight are either guys who have been dealing with injuries (Jaccob Slavin, K'Andre Miller, Jesperi Kotkaniemi) and guys who have a penchant for getting inured (Frederik Andersen).
This game will also be a good measuring stick for Logan Stankoven who will be playing against NHL level competition for the first time since sliding back to center.
Streaks
N/A
Milestone Watch
N/A
Game Notes
Jalen Chatfield and Pyotr Kochetkov are projected to make their preseason debut's tonight.
Jaccob Slavin and K'Andre Miller, who both entered camp with injuries, will not play a preseason game before kicking off their 2025-26 seasons.
Key Matchups
Projected Starting Goalies
Pyotr Kochetkov - Preseason Debut
Power Play
Carolina - 8.7% (2/23)
Penalty Kill
Carolina - 80.95% (17/21)
Hurricanes Projected Lineup
Nikolaj Ehlers - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis Andrei Svechnikov - Logan Stankoven - Jackson Blake Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - William Carrier Taylor Hall - Mark Jankowski - Eric Robinson
Alexander Nikishin - Jalen Chatfield Shayne Gostisbehere - Sean Walker Mike Reilly - Charles Alexis Legault
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When Clayton Kershaw was left off the Dodgers’ roster for the best-of-three wild-card round against the Cincinnati Reds, it marked the first time since his 2008 rookie season that he didn’t pitch in one of the team’s playoff series when healthy.
But on Saturday, ahead of Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Dodgers decided to add Kershaw back in the mix, ensuring he will likely get the chance to take the mound at least one more time before entering retirement this offseason.
Kershaw and fellow left-handed pitcher Anthony Banda were the only two changes the Dodgers made to their NLDS roster Saturday, swapping them in on an 11-man pitching staff in place of multi-inning left-hander Justin Wrobleski (who didn’t pitch in the wild-card series) and rookie right-hander Edgardo Henriquez (who walked two batters and gave up a hit while recording no outs in Game 1 against the Reds).
The Dodgers made no changes to their 15-man position player group from the wild-card round, once again keeping three catchers on the roster (as Will Smith continues to recover from a fractured hand) as well as speedy defensive specialists Justin Deal and Hyeseong Kim.
Kershaw’s return had been expected, even before manager Dave Roberts officially confirmed on Friday that the future Hall of Famer would be on the roster for the NLDS.
First and foremost, the Dodgers will need added left-handed pitching depth to combat a Phillies lineup that includes left-handed threats such as Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott. That’s why Banda was included as well.
But Kershaw, who went 11-2 this season with a 3.36 ERA, also gives the Dodgers a steady veteran presence out of the bullpen (where he is expected to pitch).
They missed that in the wild-card round, when a string of younger pitchers struggled to consistently find the strike zone while pitching in relief.
Thus, they will be hoping their 18-year veteran can provide it, in what would be his final career postseason series if the Dodgers don’t advance.
The only other major roster question facing the Dodgers entering this series is at catcher. Roberts said Friday that Smith “will be available to catch” in this NLDS, but was unsure if he’d be able to start right away in Game 1. Smith, who has taken only live at-bats in the last week while nursing his injury, did not appear in the wild-card series despite being on the roster. He took more live at-bats during the team’s Friday night workout at Citizens Bank Park.
The Flyers won their preseason finale Saturday afternoon with a 4-3 shootout decision over the Devils at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny provided the Flyers’ tallies in the skills competition.
Travis Sanheim scored the Flyers’ first goal of the game and finished with three in the preseason. Konecny provided the second and third goals, also finishing with three in exhibition play.
Jamie Drysdale collected two assists and Sanheim had one, as well.
New Jersey didn’t dress its top nine scorers from last season.
The Flyers went 3-4-0 through the preseason slate. The real thing begins in five days.
“We’ve been working through video, through practice clips, through a lot of coaching on the ice,” Drysdale said of the team picking up its new system. “There has been a lot of effort toward that and we’re getting it.”
“The one thing I love about this group, they want to be coached, which is a good thing,” Rick Tocchet said. “We’ve got to get everybody buying in and wanting to be coached, and that’s what I see right now. Listen, we’ve got a lot of work, we’ve got to clean up a lot of things, we knew that going into training camp. But the one thing is they want it, which is great. That’s a positive for the coaching staff.”
• The Flyers got one final look at Jett Luchanko and Rodrigo Abols, two forwards who were possibly battling for a final roster spot. But it looks like the Flyers could go the route of keeping 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies to open the regular season.
Dennis Gilbert was placed on waivers Saturday, according to PuckPedia.com. If he clears, the defenseman is expected to eventually head to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.
The Flyers liked Luchanko’s performance in his previous preseason game Monday against the Bruins.
“We’re looking for the same kind of game,” Tocchet said Saturday morning. “Use his speed, start to shoot the puck more, good decisions with the puck offensively, I think that’s his next level.”
Luchanko shook off a somewhat slow start in the opening stanza Saturday to pick up his first point of exhibition play when he assisted Sanheim’s goal. The 19-year-old centered the fourth line and was noticeable.
“Early on, I thought he was a little bit nervous,” Tocchet said. “I mean, he hadn’t played in four, five days. And then I thought his game started to come.”
“He’s a guy that’s in the mix,” Tocchet said Saturday morning. “If he can be a consistent player, big guy that can win loose pucks, he can play the wing and the center, which is a nice thing for a coach to have. So we’ll see how that works out.”
The 29-year-old made his NHL debut last season and played 22 games for the Flyers after spending the previous four seasons in the SHL, Sweden’s top pro league.
“It’s way different,” Abols said of the NHL grind. “There are 30 more games, way more travel. I remember last year, it was a funny story, we had that long, like, 11-day road trip … me and [Samuel Ersson] went to dinner in Chicago, I came back to the hotel and I had no idea what room I was in.”
• Dan Vladar converted 22 saves on 25 shots.
The Devils’ second goal was a backdoor one on the power play. Paul Cotter scored New Jersey’s third goal when Vladar misplayed the puck just outside his crease.
“It has been awesome, I’ve been saying that since Day 1, everybody welcomed me with open arms, so I really appreciate that,” Vladar said. “On the ice, I’m feeling well.”
The Flyers put 36 shots on Devils netminder Jake Allen.
• Noah Juulsen came into the lineup for Egor Zamula and played alongside Adam Ginning on the third defensive pair.
Juulsen and Zamula could be competing for the final lineup spot on the back end.
After Thursday’s dress rehearsal, Tocchet was asked if there was any concern with Zamula, who at times looked shaky in the preseason.
“He has got to pick it up, definitely,” the head coach said.
• The Flyers open the regular season next week when they visit the two-time defending champion Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Toronto announced its roster for the playoff series on Saturday morning, ahead of Game 1 at 4:00 p.m., and star shortstop Bo Bichette is not on it.
Bichette, 27, has been out since Sept. 6 with a knee injury.
The SS finished the 2025 regular season tied for second in hits with 181 (along with Padres' Luis Arraez), just three less than the Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. over 18 less games (139 played by Bichette). He also finished second in the AL in batting average at .311 behind Aaron Judge's .331 mark.
Bichette hit .281 with nine hits, including a home run, six RBI, and five runs scored over nine games against the Yanks in the regular season.
He would be eligible to be added to the ALCS roster if the Blue Jays were to advance.
Additionally, Toronto left veteran pitchers Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt off the ALDS roster, as well as 1B Ty France. The club decided to go with Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage as their starting pitchers, plus Eric Lauer, who started 15 games in the regular season and pitched in another 13 out of the bullpen.
Scherzer went 5-5 over 17 regular seasons start, pitching to a 5.19 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. He gave up four runs on 10 hits across 5.0 IP in his last start on Sept. 24 against the Red Sox.
Bassitt owned a 11-9 record with a 3.96 ERA over 32 games (31 starts). Like Scherzer, he also struggled down the stretch, allowing three runs on eight hits over 4.1 IP against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sept. 18.
As for the Yankees, no major changes were made to their ALDS roster compared to the Wild Card series. Luis Gil, who's starting Game 1, was added to replace Mark Leiter Jr.
The Chicago Blackhawks were defeated by the Minnesota Wild on Friday Night. The road team brought a lot of their star players with them for that game, but the Blackhawks basically had an unofficial dress rehearsal.
The Blackhawks blew a 2-0 lead in that game just to drop it 3-2. A bad second period with three Minnesota power-play goals allowed was the downfall for Chicago. Now, those players just have to be ready for Tuesday night in Sunrise against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
The Blackhawks still have one more preseason game against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. This will be Chicago dressing an AHL lineup for the final game. Some of the guys that play will be looking for an opening night roster spot, but this group will mostly begin the year with the Rockford IceHogs.
Guys like Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, and Lukas Reichel would all like to make the team. They also all had a legit chance at the start of camp but there are only so many spots. Over time, they can earn a spot with their play if they aren’t on the team by Tuesday.
That also goes for Nolan Allan, Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, and Louis Crevier. There are always injuries or inconsistencies during a long season, especially with a lot of young players, so everyone will get their chance.
For the rest of the lineup, this is their chance to play in a home NHL sweater in front of a pro-Blackhawks crowd for the last time before they move back to Rockford for what is likely the rest of the season. Some of them may get that call-up at some point, but everything has to be earned. This is a great audition opportunity for a lot of these AHL guys.
How To Watch
Those looking for the game in the Chicago area can find it on CHSN. Out-of-market viewings can be found on ESPN+. The puck will drop at the United Center at 7:00 PM CT.
Rejuvenated Mercedes driver takes top spot by 0.182sec
Norris accused of impeding Dutchman’s flying lap
George Russell is in talks to extend his contract with Mercedes, but could surely do no more to make his case than a magnificent lap on Saturday to claim pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen was beaten into second, but the world champion was aggrieved that he had been denied by Lando Norris, complaining of being obstructed by the McLaren driver.
SAN FRANCISCO – Jimmy Butler is going through his first training camp with the Warriors after being acquired from the Miami Heat at last February’s trade deadline, but his preseason debut with the team might have to wait.
Butler rolled his ankle Thursday and did not practice Friday or Saturday. Coach Steve Kerr is calling Butler’s status a “question mark” for Sunday’s preseason opener against the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center.
“That’ll be a training staff decision,” Kerr said.
Steve Kerr reveals Jimmy Butler is "a question mark" for the Warriors' preseason opener after rolling his ankle pic.twitter.com/1INBAWT5eo
The Warriors and director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini will be extremely cautious with the health of players throughout preseason, especially veterans like Butler, Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Al Horford. Curry, Green and Horford are expected to play Sunday.
Center Trayce Jackson-Davis also is considered questionable for the Warriors. Jackson-Davis when speaking Saturday at the podium had his right thumb taped up.
He says it isn’t anything to worry about.
“Thumb’s good,” Jackson-Davis said. “Just a little precaution.”
Guard De’Anthony Melton continues to rehab from left ACL surgery he underwent in December. Melton will miss all of the 2025-26 NBA preseason, as well as the start of the regular season. He has been able to go through individual work as the rest of Warriors practice and scrimmage in training camp.
The Warriors on Wednesday announced Melton will be re-evaluated in four weeks.
Rookie Alex Toohey also will not be healthy enough to play Sunday, delaying his NBA preseason debut. Toohey has been dealing with an ankle injury that has hampered him in training camp and prior to that as well.
With their first of two second-round draft picks, the Warriors selected Toohey No. 52 overall in June. Toohey, a 6-foot-8 forward from Australia, played six summer league games and averaged 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
The Lakers on Friday played their first preseason game, losing 103-81 against the Phoenix Suns. LeBron James and Luka Dončić both didn’t play in the loss.
Kerr plans to use a deep rotation Sunday without any one player tiring himself out.
“I don’t think anybody will play much more than 15, 18 minutes,” Kerr said. “Maybe a couple young guys get into the 20s. First game, I love to give everybody time. I want to give every player who’s on the active list some minutes.”
The 34-year-old, who had been on an NHL PTO with the New York Rangers, played in a preseason game with them before they released him on Sept. 29.
Why did Bridgeport sign a defenseman who hasn't played in the NHL or AHL since the 2021-22 season?
The likely reason is due to the injury to veteran defenseman Ethan Bear, who signed a one-year, two-way deal this summer to bolster the Islanders' blue-line depth.
The 28-year-old sustained what appeared to be a hand injury after blocking a shot in the New York Islanders' preseason game against the New Jersey Devils on Sept. 26.
With Bear out, that left Bridgeport with only three right-side defenseman, if you count Isaiah George playing on his off-side. The other two are Cole McWard and Marshall Warren, so there was a clear need there.
In the AHL, a PTO lasts 25 games so we'll see how long Sustr remains in Bridgeport.
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ST. PAUL, Minn - The Minnesota Wild have signed goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a five-year contract extension worth $34 million ($6.8m AAV).
Gustavsson, 27, was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the 55th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. He was then traded to the Ottawa Senators before he ever played a game for the Penguins.
In two seasons with the Senators, Gustavsson went 10-13-3 with a .905 save percentage and a 3.12 goals-against average. After the 2021-2022 season he was traded to the Wild in exchange for Cam Talbot.
The 6-foot-2 goaltender has been with the Wild the last three seasons. He burst onto the scene in his first year and was one of the top goalies in the league in the 39 games he played.
He went 22-9-7 with a .931 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against average with three shutouts. He finished second in save percentage that year and goals-against average behind Linus Ullmark who won the Veznia Trophy.
The following season Gustavsson struggled. He went 20-18-4 with a 3.06 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage in 45 games. The Wild missed the playoffs that season as well.
But, Gustavsson bounced back last year and in 58 games for the Wild he went 31-19-6 with a .916 save percentage and a 2.56 goals-against average with five shutouts.
He has one year left on his contract and now has been extended for five more seasons. He has a full no-move clause right now until 2028 and then it turns into a 15-team no-move clause for the remaining three years.
Gustavsson ranks fourth all-time in Wild franchise history in wins, sixth in goals-against average, fourth in save percentage, fifth in shutouts and sixth in games played. He is 73-46-17 in 142 career games with a .914 save percentage, 2.59 goals-against average and 11 shutouts with the Wild.
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Mohammed Kudus scored the winner and won player of the match as Spurs won their fifth game against Leeds in a row
3 min: A cracking atmosphere at Elland Road, by the way. Like that’s breaking news. One of the great old-school theatres.
2 min: Bogle sends a long pass down the right for Calvert-Lewin, who is skittled to the ground by Van de Ven. You’ve seen free kicks given for much less, but the referee waves play on and the ball sails out for a goal kick. It’s a contact sport, I guess.
