We have reached September which means New York Islanders and NHL hockey returns this month.
Here's a list of everything that's going on this month in Islanders land as we gear up for the start of the 2025-26 season, which begins in Pittsburgh against the Penguins on Oct. 9.
Rookie Camp & Training Camp
The Islanders held a development camp the week after the 2025 NHL Draft, which included th entirety of the prospect pool. The Islanders will also be holding a rookie camp in early September, likely beginning at some point over the next two weeks.
College players and those whose seasons begin in Europe will not be in attendance, such as Cole Eiserman, Danny Nelson, and Victor Eklund.
After a week of rookie camp, the NHLers will join in for training camp, where, over the course of those two weeks or so.
NHL Preseason:
Sept. 21 vs. PHI
Sept. 23 @ NJD
Sept. 25 @ NYR
Sept. 26 vs. NJD
Sept. 29 vs. NYR
(Oct. 2 @ PHI)
There are some other events happening in September.
Matt Martin, now a special assistant to General Manager Mathieu Darche, will be holding his Poker Night at Opus Steakhouse on Sept. 8.
Islanders captain Anders Lee will be hosting his Jam Kancer in the Kan event at Northwell Ice Center on Sept. 13.
Then we have the Islanders Charity Golf Outing on Monday, Sept. 15.
On September 28, the Islanders will host a Fan Fest Barbecue at The Park, located directly across from UBS Arena.
September is jam-packed but should be a ton of fun as the season is just around the corner.
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Fans sang for the striker to ‘take us to Europe’ as he arrived in Italy to join an unfancied team brimming with positivity
Jamie Vardy had not reached his destination, but already he was getting a taste of what may await him, a crowd of Cremonese supporters greeting him at the exit of Milan’s Linate airport – 50 miles away from their team’s home town. Never mind the fact it was almost midnight on a Sunday. He hopped out of his car to sign autographs – one over a tattoo of his own face. They sang for him to “take us to Europe”.
Even in a summer of famous names making unexpected late-career moves to Italy – from Kevin De Bruyne and Napoli to Luka Modric at Milan – Vardy joining Cremonese feels most improbable of all. A player who once finished eighth in the Ballon d’Or vote, signing for a club with a 16,000-seater stadium who have made only fleeting appearances in the top flight since they were founded in 1903.
Fans have been hoping to see Montreal Canadiens’ general manager Kent Hughes make another move this offseason, especially since he confirmed there is a possibility that Kirby Dach won’t be ready to start the new season. The Habs will have prized prospect Ivan Demidov playing his rookie season this year, and they are eager to give him the tools to succeed.
On Monday, Carey Price’s final signing bonus was paid off, and the shackles preventing the GM from trading his contract came off. Why do the Canadiens need to move his contract? Well, because as things stand, the Habs are nearly six million over the salary cap. In the previous year, they could become cap compliant by sending young players to the Laval Rocket before placing Price on LTIR at the start of the season and recalling the players then, but this year, they cannot do that. Demidov, Oliver Kapanen, Zack Bolduc, and Lane Hutson are the only waiver-exempt players on the roster, so it just wouldn’t work.
According to RG.org’s Marco D’Amico, Price’s contract is likely to be heading to the San Jose Sharks this week. The California outfit is just $5 million over the salary cap floor, and it therefore has plenty of cap room for Price’s $ 10.5 million cap hit. Should the Sharks decide to trade some of their highest-paid players, they wouldn’t find under the cap floor if they had Price on the roster.
Who could be coming the other way? Well, in short, nobody. The Sharks would be doing the Canadiens a favor by taking the gigantesque contract off their hands, and the Habs are likely to need to pay for the privilege. How much? Well, a first-round pick isn’t out of the question; that’s what the Calgary Flames had to give to Montreal when they took Sean Monahan’s contract off their books.
On his X account, TVA Sports’ Jean-Charles Lajoie shares the same view as D’Amico, stating that Price’s contract will be moving, and he adds that the Canadiens are also working on a deal for a second-line center. D’Amico’s sources tell him that fans may need to be patient for the second part of that statement to come true.
Still, according to D’Amico, the presence of Gavin McKenna at the next draft could mean that struggling teams are ready to raise the white flag earlier this season to increase their chances of drafting the generational talent that is the left winger.
An aging team like the Pittsburgh Penguins, which is looking to rebuild, may be eager to pull the plug, especially if it can convince some of its stars to consider moving, such as Evgeny Malkin or Sidney Crosby. Both are talented centers, and despite their age, they could generate considerable interest and provide the Pens with a significant return. Speaking to the media during last year’s playoffs, Canadiens rookie Demidov said he was a Malkin fan growing up, but the Russian pivot has a long list of injuries and rarely plays a full 82-game season.
The Nashville Predators, who struggled mightily last season, could also be tempted to call it early. After all, Barry Trotz, who had invested heavily last offseason, threatened his roster with a rebuild if they couldn’t get things going, and they didn’t. Ryan O’Reilly’s experience could come in handy for many teams. Still, he would be a very temporary fix since he’s already 34, just like another good option Erik Haula.
If Mason MacTavish still refuses to sign with the Anaheim Ducks when the season starts, could GM Pat Verbeek entertain the thought of moving him? It’s not outside the realm of possibilities, but it would be surprising to see him give up on the promising young center.
While none of those possibilities have come to fruition yet, Hughes must create the kind of space that would allow him to take advantage of those situations. The best and easiest way to do that is to move Price’s contract. Fear not, though, at the end of the season, when the goaltender’s contract finally expires, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Price sign a one-day contract with the Habs, so that he can retire as a Canadiens and he won’t have worn any other uniform in his storied career.
If one of the stories this summer has been about the possibility of moving his contract, next offseason, once he has officially retired, the conversation might be about whether his number 31 should be retired and whether he will enter the Hockey Hall of Fame on his second year of eligibility.
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September is here. A new NBA season isn’t far behind. The Boston Celtics huddle for Media Day on September 29 before launching into training camp practices. The first preseason game is October 8. We’re 50 days away from regular-season games.
It’s time to start thinking about basketball again. And while the 2025-26 Celtics season will be very different from Boston’s recent campaigns, there’s a lot to ponder as the green begin to chart the next path to title contention with a new-look roster.
Today, we’re kicking off our annual Ramp to Camp series, where we ponder a new Celtics topic every weekday in September. We cobbled together some of NBC Sports Boston’s finest behind-the-scenes hoops savants — the people who make our shows and content shine — and peppered them with questions about the 2025-26 Celtics.
To kick things off, we gave them a very open-ended query: What do you most want to learn about this team during the 2025-26 season?
Regardless of how competitive the Celtics are this season — we’re more bullish about their potential than most, despite the talent drain brought upon by the second apron — we’re going to learn an awful lot about this team. That questions that have lingered, even during the march to Banner 18, will be answered.
How does Jaylen Brown fare in the 1A role while Jayson Tatum rehabs from Achilles surgery? How will Payton Pritchard respond if he’s thrust into a starter role? Which of the younger players on this roster can blossom and show they can be key pieces of Boston’s next title contender?
Maybe our biggest curiosity: What can Joe Mazzulla do with this roster? Ever since his promotion to head coach, Mazzulla has operated with talent-rich rosters featuring championship-or-bust mentalities. We know for certain he can deliver the grandest prize with such a team, and the Celtics have Banner 18 to show for it.
The question this season is, how much can Mazzulla coach up a team that’s endured a talent drain, both from the departures this offseason and Tatum’s absence? Mazzulla is going to have to press all the right buttons to maximize his remaining talent, and we’re eager to see exactly where he can deliver a team without quite the same burden of expectations.
One of Brad Stevens’ coaching superpowers was an ability to deliver teams that were greater than the perceived sum of their individual parts.
We all know what he did at Butler. Going into Stevens’ sophomore NBA season, the Celtics were projected to win 27 games and despite cycling through 22 roster players during that 2014-15 season, Stevens delivered a 40-win playoff team. A season later, with an Amir Johnson-David Lee-Jordan Mickey-Tyler Zeller frontcourt, Boston finished 14 game over .500 and earned the fifth seed in the East.
Stevens had a way of tapping into his players’ individual talents and finding the best combinations that allowed them to thrive. Now we’re going to find out if Mazzulla can do the same.
Let’s be clear here: This isn’t to question Mazzulla’s coaching chops. There’s a reason the Celtics locked him up this summer. The team believes he’s the right guy to lead this team into this next chapter. This season will simply be a different sort of challenge, and we’re eager to see how Mazzulla navigates those new obstacles.
The bullseye might be gone, but we suspect Mazzulla will bring the same fire and zest on a daily basis. His challenge will be getting the most out of a set of younger players that must fill the shoes of the decorated veterans that departed.
His ability to do that could shorten the wait for Boston’s next title contender.
What does our panel want to learn during the 2025-26 season?
Adam Hart, EP, Content Strategy
Do the Celtics have the pieces to compete for a title once Jayson Tatum is back to full strength?
Jrue Holiday, Al Horford (expected to sign elsewhere), Kristaps Porzingis, and Luke Kornet represent a major depletion in NBA experience. Who from this younger group can be part of the future, or provide the next wave of NBA experience through trade?
Max Lederman, Content Producer
Can Brad Stevens draft?
Finding playing time for players like Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman hasn’t been a priority over the last few seasons, but with what looks like a gap year on hand, we should have a much better idea about them following this season.
Neither player was selected in a slot that normally produces stars, but being able to add rotation players on the cheap will be crucial if the Celtics want to contend again in the apron era.
Josh Canu, Media Editor
Joe Mazzulla was thrust into the head coach position before he or anyone ever expected and, despite some fair criticisms, he and the Celtics have been extremely successful in his tenure.
Now, with a much different roster and without the team’s MVP, I want to see what Joe can do with a squad with lower expectations and less talent.
He has the extension in hand, but this is the prove-it year for Joe Mazzulla to show he is a top-tier coach in the NBA.
Darren Hartwell, Managing Editor
How high is Payton Pritchard’s ceiling?
Pritchard responded to an expanded role last season by winning NBA Sixth Man of the Year. He’ll likely take on an even bigger role this season following the departure of Jrue Holiday. So, how much better than he get?
Can he be a legitimate front-end starter? Is it crazy to think he’ll be an All-Star? Determining Pritchard’s ceiling is an important step for the Celtics as they aim to build a new core around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Michael Hurley, Web Producer
It’s the stock answer, but I want to see Jaylen Brown as the unquestioned best player on the team.
There’s no greater commodity in the NBA than superstar talent, and while the Celtics obviously have Brown locked in for years, it’ll be fascinating to see if he can unlock something that’s been kept held down while sharing the spotlight with Tatum.
And if Brown does reach new levels … how far does that take the team? A legitimate Eastern Conference playoff run feels more feasible if Brown reaches the potential that he clearly believes he has.
I want to learn more about Jaylen Brown this season.
Kind of weird, right? I mean, we’re talking about a four-time NBA All-Star who owns hardware for being the Eastern Conference MVP and NBA Finals MVP. Still, I just can’t help but wonder how he’ll fare without Jayson Tatum.
The Scottie Pippen-without-Michael Jordan comparison is one I really like. Pippen didn’t lead the Bulls to a title when Jordan was batting .202 with 114 strikeouts in the minors, but he kept them competitive in 1993-94. Pippen was a legitimate scorer, passer and defender.
If Brown does the same, it should make for a fun Celtics season. And that’s all we can ask for at this point.
Kevin Miller, VP, Content
Can Jaylen Brown improve as a playmaker? I’m curious about his usage rate and how everyone plays off of him.
Vegas Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner opened up about his decision to block a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Carolina Hurricanes at last season’s NHL trade deadline.
Amidst Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp in Calgary, Alberta, last week, the forward spoke with NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest about why he blocked a trade to the Hurricanes at the trade deadline.
“The last two years there were a lot of rumors going on, a lot of different stuff swirling around. You didn’t know what was going to happen,” Marner said. “Then the whole Carolina thing comes up in the middle of the season. It’s a bit of an awkward one. My wife was six or seven months pregnant, we really didn’t want to be a deadline player.
“I would have had to leave and go back to Toronto because my wife wasn’t coming down with me, so I was moving into Carolina myself if I did that. The logistics of it and everything, it just didn’t make sense and then from that point on, we told [the Maple Leafs] we were committed to [Toronto] and we were going to play it all out.”
This was Marner’s second major interview at Canada’s Olympic camp. The forward also spoke with TSN’s Mark Masters and revealed that his address was leaked after the Panthers eliminated Toronto from the playoffs in May.
“We play Game 7 as we do in a non-enjoyable way of all time, probably. You get home, you're pretty disappointed, you're pretty devastated. The thought also that it was my last Maple Leaf game at home,” Marner said.
“And then I get a phone call probably about five or so minutes after from, I think it was my wife's father and goes, ‘I just want to let you know we've got people sending us screenshots of a guy posting your address online saying that if people want to come pay us a visit and say their goodbyes (in quotations), here’s the address.’ It was a little tough.”
The Colorado Avalanche have been blessed with talented stars among their ranks of athletes in the last thirty years: Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Milan Hejduk, just to name a few.
Tyson Barrie is among the names of recognizable talent who have called Colorado home during their career. On August 25th, 2025, Barrie made the decision to hang up the skates professionally.
After 822 NHL games, Tyson Barrie is calling it a career. 👏
Drafted by Colorado 64th overall in the third round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Barrie finished his NHL career with a total of 822 games played, tallying 508 points (110g/398a). 307 of those points, including 75 goals and 232 assists, were scored with the Avalanche.
In the 13 seasons he played in the NHL, eight of those were spent in Denver. The remaining seven were spent among the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, and, most recently, the Calgary Flames.
In 2019, Barrie was an instrumental piece in a trade with Toronto that brought Nazem Kadri to Colorado. He was sent with forward Alex Kerfoot to the Maple Leafs in return for Kadri and defensive prospect Calle Rosen. Kadri played a crucial role in Colorado's Stanley Cup run in 2022.
"It's probably a decision in tandem with the 32 National Hockey League teams," Barrie said on Hockey Today via SiriusXM NHL when asked why he made the decision when he did. "It felt pretty organic. There was probably a little bit of opportunity out there for me to go and take a [professional try out] and take another crack at it, but I kinda put my heart and soul into that last year and this season didn't go as I'd hoped in Calgary. So, it felt organic to roll over into the next chapter of my life. Like I said in my Instagram post, I'm just super grateful for the time I did get to spend in the league. The hockey family is a special thing, and to be a part of it for that long and I know it doesn't end when you retire, so I'm just super grateful for the life I got to lead thus far."
Benjamin Sesko lacks sharpness, VAR spoils Josh King’s day and Sunderland have a man for the big moments
It was always going to be a tight match but in the end it took a moment of genius from Dominik Szoboszlai to settle it in Liverpool’s favour. The Hungarian is an attacking midfielder by trade but since Jeremie Frimpong’s injury Arne Slot has found a new role for him at right-back. Szoboszlai had clearly learned some free-kick technique from Trent Alexander-Arnold over the years but his ability in the alien position was almost more impressive. He had almost no problems with Gabriel Martinelli and he quickly adapted to Eberechi Eze, who was a greater threat than the man he replaced, but Szoboszlai remained calm and collected throughout. He was able to defend well and also produced some stunning passes, distributing long and short, changing the dynamic of the match as Alexander-Arnold used to. The victory over Arsenal will be remembered for a split second of quality but Szoboszlai should take great credit for how he has adapted to help Slot and his teammates. Will Unwin
For a few weeks in 2012, Jeremy Lin had enough swagger for all of New York — and for all of the NBA.
While that's what many fans remember him for, Lin was more than just "Linsanity." He played in nine NBA seasons before spending time playing in China and, most recently, Taiwan. Now, at 37, Lin announced his retirement from basketball on Instagram.
"As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away," he wrote. "I've spent my 15 year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I've ever made.
"It's been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me. I've lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world. I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive everytime I touched a basketball."
Lin was undrafted out of Harvard but got a chance thanks to Dallas Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, who signed him for the Mavs Summer League team. There, he turned heads as a guard with potential, averaging 9.8 points per game on 54.5% shooting in Las Vegas. That led to several offers, but Lin took the one from the Warriors, sending him back to his native Bay Area. He was waived by the Warriors midway through his rookie season, but in the summer of 2012, Lin signed a free agent minimum contract with Mike D'Antoni's New York Knicks.
In February of the following season, when leading scorer Carmelo Anthony went out, Antoni inserted Lin into the lineup and over the next few weeks Lin became a New York legend, sparking "Linsanity" and breathing an air of excitement into the league it needed. He scored 20+ points in nine of 10 games, most famously outdueling Kobe Bryant on a night Lin dropped 38 and seven assists to Kobe's 34 points, leading New York to a win.
Lin would go on to play for the Rockets, Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks and Raptors (where he won a ring in 2019), averaging 11.6 points a game for his career. More than just an on-court success, he was an inspiration to a generation of players coming up who saw themselves in the overlooked Lin.
After the NBA, Lin played in China and then Taiwan, where he suited up for the Taipei Kings in the Taiwan Professional Basketball League's inaugural season. He was named MVP and Finals MVP as he sparked a Kings championship run.
Polish businessman Piotr Szczerek says: ‘I made a grave mistake’
Majchrzak had given cap to boy in crowd after five-set victory
Moments after the tennis player Kamil Majchrzak celebrated the biggest win of his career at the US Open last week, he handed his cap to a beaming young boy. What happened next sparked tears, outrage, a detective hunt across social media and, finally, a grovelling apology.
It came from Piotr Szczerek, a millionaire businessman from Poland, who had snatched the cap out of the boy’s hand and stuffed it into his bag. Videos of the incident showed the youngster looking deeply upset and asking: “What are you doing?” while Majchrzak – who was oblivious to the situation after his five-set victory against the ninth seed, Karen Khachanov – walked away.
Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.
With more talent in the system than Pittsburgh has had in years - and 13 picks in the 2025 NHL Draft - top prospects lists are becoming more competitive and more difficult to discern. Since the prospect pool is deepening, The Hockey News - Pittsburgh Penguins takes a look at the top-20 prospects in the organization.
For No. 9, we highlight the first goaltender on our list - and he's entering a crucial year in his development and with the Penguins' organization. That netminder is 23-year-old Joel Blomqvist.
#9: G Joel Blomqvist
Blomqvist had quite the interesting 2024-25 season. Following a stellar 2023-24 campaign at the AHL level - when he posted a .921 save percentage to go along with a 2.16 goals-against average and a 25-12-6 record - the 6-foot-2, 182-pound netminder went into training camp with aspirations of somehow cracking the NHL roster.
As it turns out, he got his wish. Due to a pre-season injury forced former Penguins' goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to miss the first several games of the regular season, an opportunity came for Blomqvist to tandem with starting goaltender Tristan Jarry from the get-go.
And he did not disappoint.
Blomqvist impressed so much in his first handful of games that he forced the Penguins' hand into carrying three goaltenders once Nedeljkovic came back into the fold. He had a .912 save percentage through his first seven appearances, and it wasn't until a very human performance against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 11 - when Blomqvist surrendered three goals on just eight shots - that he was re-assigned back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS).
Blomqvist went back down the AHL level, but he was only there for about two months before Jarry was waived in late January, which opened the door for Blomqvist to get some runway at the NHL level a second time. Unfortunately, the second stint didn't go as well for Blomqvist, and he was sent back to WBS before an injury there kept him out for much of the latter part of the season.
His totals in his first NHL season? An .885 save percentage and a 3.81 goals-against average, neither of which are ideal. But the stats don't tell the entire story, as Blomqvist wasn't exactly garnering consistent playing time in his second stint since Nedeljkovic was playing very well at the time.
But there is still promise in Blomqvist's game. He's athletic, he's quick post-to-post, he plays the puck well, and he has good rebound control. His biggest flaw is high-glove side, which is oftentimes a fatal flaw of young goaltenders.
Blomqvist certainly still needs some refinement, but as of now, he's still a large piece of the Penguins' future. The trouble is that - with several other goaltenders either on his heels or competing with him for NHL and AHL playing time, including Sergei Murashov, Filip Larsson, Taylor Gauthier, and the newly acquired Arturs Silovs - Blomqvist won't have a whole lot of wiggle room to prove himself to the Penguins' organization.
With the departure of Nedeljkovic this summer, that eliminated one of the veterans on the NHL roster. However, the subsequent addition of Silovs further adds to the youth competition that Blomqvist faces in lieu of trying to compete for an NHL roster spot out of camp.
Murashov is the organization's best goaltending prospect and - realistically - should be starting AHL games this season. So, if Blomqvist does not beat out Silovs in training camp, he's likely facing a split in WBS with one of Murashov, Larsson, or Gauthier - which is obviously does much less for his development at this juncture than splitting time with Jarry in the NHL.
Blomqvist has proven enough that he probably deserves a chance to have a lot of runway at the NHL level this season. But, at the same time, the Penguins need to begin figuring out what their future looks like at the position. The reality is that they currently have five goaltenders who should be playing at the AHL level at the very least, but between one spot on the NHL roster and just two in WBS, the math works against all of them.
Even if it's not quite fair for a 23-year-old goaltending prospect, this really is a "make-it-or-break-it" year of sorts for Blomqvist. He needs to earn the other NHL job out of camp, and if he doesn't quite do that, he needs to show that he is the clear man for the job in WBS so he is the first on-call.
Again, there is still a lot of promise to Blomqvist's game, and Penguins' fans will have to be a little bit patient with some of the growing pains that will come with gaining NHL experience. But, unfortunately for him, he has to prove that he's NHL-ready quickly - and he has to continue to show why he still belongs in any top-10 Penguins' prospect rankings.
