NHL Metropolitan

The New Jersey Devils announced defenseman Dougie Hamilton was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Sunday ahead of surgery for a broken jaw on Wednesday.

Hamilton left Sunday's win over the Washington Capitals in the first period after being struck by a puck. He's recorded 20 points (seven goals and 13 assists) in 30 games during the 2021-22 NHL season, his first as a member of the Devils.

New Jersey assistant coach Alain Nasreddine, who's leading the staff on an interim basis while head coach Lindy Ruff is in COVID-19 protocols, previously confirmed the 28-year-old blueliner would miss Tuesday's game against the Boston Bruins.

A timetable for Hamilton's potential return wasn't immediately announced.

The Toronto native was one of the NHL offseason's marquee free-agent signings, landing with the Devils on a seven-year, $63 million contract in July.

In November, Hamilton told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski the lucrative deal didn't put any additional pressure on his shoulders.

"It's definitely weird. I don't feel like that. I don't want to portray that at all," he said. "For me, I just feel like I'm a new guy. I don't have an aura or anything like that. I'm just trying to fit in. I don't want to be above anyone else."

His 20 points are tied for 19th among NHL defensemen this season.

Hamilton was selected with the ninth overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Boston Bruins. He made his debut for the B's during the 2012-13 season and went on to play for the Calgary Flames and Carolina Hurricanes before landing in New Jersey.

In all, the 2020-21 All-Star selection has racked up 361 points (113 goals and 248 assists) across 637 regular-season appearances.

The Devils have shown some improvement amid a modest three-game winning streak, which has pushed their record to 13-15-5 following a sluggish start to the campaign.

Now, they'll try to maintain that upward trajectory without one of their most important players.

The NHL has postponed three more games this week because of COVID-19, the league announced Sunday. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators are the teams impacted.

The NHL and NHL Players Association also agreed to the reintroduction of taxi squads in order to provide teams with players who can be recalled to avoid having games postponed in the future. 

Each team will be allowed to have a taxi squad of up to six players. In addition, teams are allowed to make emergency recalls from the minors if COVID-19 were to prevent them from playing with a full lineup. 

Taxi squads will be in effect until at least the All-Star break in February. Players on the taxi squad will count as being in the for the salary cap and can be there for a minimum of 20 days. 

The NHL also had taxi squads during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. 

Several players have entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols since returning from the holiday break, including Bruins forward Charlie Coyle, Maple Leafs forward Williams Nylander and Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues. 

The NHL began its holiday break earlier than expected this year because of a rise in positive COVID-19 cases across the league. Every team was shut down beginning Dec. 22, though most were on pause before that point. 

Several teams are set to return to action on Tuesday, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes and San Jose Sharks.

Because of postponements across the league and rise in COVID-19 cases, the NHL and NHLPA also recently decided that players would not attend the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The league needs the two-week break in the February schedule to make up more than 50 postponed games.  

Tuesday night's game between the Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild has been postponed because of the NHL's COVID-19 protocols.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan first reported the decision came after the Canes registered four positive coronavirus test results earlier in the day.

Carolina played against the Calgary Flames on Thursday. The Flames have since had three games postponed because six players and a staff member entered the league's COVID-19 protocols.

Calgary proceeded to play the Boston Bruins on Saturday. The Bruins placed Brad Marchand and Craig Smith in the protocol on Tuesday.

The Hurricanes placed Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and a staff member in protocols Monday. Today's positive tests bring the number of people on the Canes list to seven with Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo having returned to the active roster last week.

A sudden rise in COVID-19 cases around the league comes as players face a decision about whether to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Preliminary guidelines suggest they could face a five-week quarantine in China if they test positive during the Games in February.

"It is concerning when you hear about the three- to five-week quarantine, having to stay back and stay in China," the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron told reporters Tuesday. "I think there's a lot of questions right now that need to be answered, and that's how I feel about it. Obviously as an athlete I think you're torn because you want to be there and, as I said, the biggest sports event in the world."

The Olympics are scheduled to begin Feb. 4. The NHL, which barred participation in the 2018 Winter Games, said it would honor an agreement with the NHL Players' Association to let players go this time despite the rising coronavirus concerns.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are scheduled to play three home games in a span of four days beginning Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings.

The Philadelphia Flyers are not in a good place.

When it comes to organizational turmoil, the Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens have been front and center. That's in part because of their existence in big Canadian markets as well the melodrama regarding the teams' management groups. That the Flyers' struggles have been able to fly under the radar is perhaps the only silver lining for the organization in what has been a total failure of a season thus far. The Flyers sit 24th in the league by points percentage (.462).

Head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant Michel Therrien were rightfully fired earlier in the week, with the team producing a pitiful 43.4 expected goals percentage under their watch this season, per Evolving-Hockey. Only the Sabres and Coyotes ranked lower.

Many of the team's top players such as Sean Couturier, James van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov were woefully underachieving, while the defense on the whole looked lost in coverages. It comes on the heels of a 2020-21 season in which the Flyers similarly struggled, missing the playoffs.

Vigneault did not have the team prepared, and the Flyers roster is definitively better than the results show. But while the Flyers may not be the basement dweller they currently present as, they're not a contender-in-hiding, either.

This is a roster constructed to hang with the middle of the pack, and that's become a trend in Philly. A run to the second round during the 2020 playoffs under unique COVID-19 circumstances serves as the only plausible deniability for an era in which the team has otherwise struggled to elevate above mediocrity. Indeed, this projects to be their ninth season out of 10 in which they will have either missed the playoffs or exited in the first round.

Sensing a stale product, general manager Chuck Fletcher made a series of major moves over the summer. Jakub Voracek was sent to Columbus for Cam Atkinson, while youth and prospects were sacrificed to bring in Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen on defense. In prior seasons, the team swung big on Kevin Hayes and Van Riemsdyk in free agency. The Flyers have been openly trying to contend for years and aren't getting the results. They've tried different coaches and different reinforcements to the roster.

By now, it's clear: This group just isn't good enough.

If trying to build a team upward to win now doesn't work, there's only one direction to go. The Flyers do not need to execute a scorched-earth policy, stripping the entire roster bare and building a new team from scratch. What's clear, though, is they need to stop chasing their losses. If the organization is set to tread water, at best, over the next couple of seasons, then it needs to do so with a greater future purpose in mind.

Most pending unrestricted free agents need to be moved prior to the 2022 trade deadline to give the team an arsenal toward building a more optimistic future.

The Flyers have a fairly average pool, as there is some emerging talent to complement the roster but no obvious future stars waiting in the minors. They traded their 2021 first-round pick for Ristolainen and do not have their second-round picks the next two summers. Ristolainen needs to be moved, as do Derick Brassard, Justin Braun, Martin Jones and Keith Yandle. Mountains should be moved to try to deal Van Riemsdyk, who's approaching age 33 and holding a $7 million cap hit through 2023. If that requires retaining half of his contract, so be it.

Couturier is a great two-way center who just turned 29 and is under contract long-term. He's going nowhere. Their hand is likely forced with Kevin Hayes (29) and Ryan Ellis (30) on lengthy contracts that reflect a level of ability they won't match during the downswings of their careers, but both still have plenty to contribute and shouldn't harm the team in the next few seasons.

The team has some young players who will be part of the foundation going forward.

Forward Joel Farabee (21) and goaltender Carter Hart (23) are locks to be key figures. Konecny could be trade bait but is 24 and signed through 2025. Travis Sanheim (25) becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2023 but is a quality top-four defenseman and one of the few Flyers on his game currently. If the price is right, he should be a high priority to retain.

A discussion has to be had about Provorov, as the 2015 seventh overall pick has had an up-and-down career. He scored 17 and 13 goals in 2017-18 and 2019-20, respectively. His skating ability is visually exhilarating, but often the Russian comes across as more flash than substance. His defensive acumen doesn't match the physical tools, and he's struggling this season.

Provorov doesn't appear likely to achieve the status of a No. 1 defenseman previously expected of him, and the $6.75 million cap hit until 2025 is starting to look more like a burden than a luxury. He could still be a big part of the future, but if he doesn't improve they'll regret not having moved him while his value was still high.

Yet the biggest decision of all will be regarding the future of Claude Giroux. As the captain, the best player on the roster and the face of the franchise, it's hard to imagine him with any team other than the one with which he's spent his entire 15-year career.

But Giroux turns 34 in January and is in the final year of his contract. He's still a very good player, but he's approaching the twilight of his career. Trading him would open up a lot of cap space and earn the Flyers quite the trade package.

Giroux, currently sidestepping questions about his future in Philadelphia, might even welcome the move to a contender. He could remain with the team and contribute for some years ahead, and perhaps that's even the smart bet at this stage, but parting ways is a possibility and would signal the start of a new era.

The organization has to be prepared to build toward something. Parts of the current roster need to be turned over in pursuit of cap space and future draft picks. Room must be made for top prospects Morgan Frost, Cam York and Bobby Brink to play meaningful minutes in the next few seasons, and the team has to be prepared to endure their growing pains.

The New York Rangers made a radical decision in 2018 as a similarly middling team to move their veterans and proactively start a new era. A few years later, the team appears to be back in the Stanley Cup race. Meanwhile, teams like Vancouver and Chicago lived in denial and are now backed into the rebuilding corner with their tails between their legs.

The Flyers need to rebuild. The degree to which it will be necessary will depend on how soon they are willing to confront that reality.

Oakland County (Michigan) prosecutor Karen McDonald's office has ruled that Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks' death on July 4 was accidental and said that there will be no criminal charges filed, per Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.

A Michigan medical examiner ruled on July 5 that Kivlenieks died of chest trauma from "an errant fireworks mortar blast," per ESPN News Services.

Per Hedger, Kivlenieks attended a post-wedding celebration at the Novi, Michigan home of Columbus goaltenders coach Manny Legace, whose daughter had just been married:

Kivlenieks, 24, died after being struck in the chest by a three-inch mortar shell fired from a tube that tipped toward a hot tub in which he was seated. 

The fireworks device was a 'cake style' rack of nine mortar shells in tubes arranged in three rows of three.

The autopsy found that Kivlenieks died after suffering fatal damage to his heart and lungs.

Novi police initially conducted an investigation and ruled Kivlenieks’ death a "tragic accident," per Hedger. The department did not recommend criminal charges.

The report was sent to McDonald's office, which investigated the incident for nearly five months. Following the office's ruling, the case is now closed.

Kivlenieks appeared in eight games across two seasons with the Blue Jackets. The Latvian went undrafted, but he signed a three-year deal with Columbus in 2017 and played for the club's AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, before making his NHL debut during the 2019-20 campaign.

American Thanksgiving has passed, which means hockey fans are free to look at the standings.

The holiday serves as a benchmark that signals the unofficial start of playoff races. With two months of play complete and teams hitting the 20-game mark, we have an idea of team identities, strengths and areas that will be targeted as we approach the March 21 trade deadline.

We can start to determine which teams have chances and which teams do not.

But that isn't easy in the Metropolitan Division. The last-place team, the New York Islanders, was a game away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season. Metro teams hold the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, and two others are within four points. The Washington Capitals lead the NHL with 33 points, and the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers sit right behind them. It is an incredibly tight division.

No offense to the Atlantic Division, but if the Boston Bruins have any shot of making the playoffs, they will likely need to bump the Florida Panthers, the Toronto Maple Leafs or the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning out of a playoff spot in their division. The Bruins could still bring back free-agent goalie Tuukka Rask and make a run, but with so many good teams in the Metro Division, it's an uphill battle for everyone in the Eastern Conference. 

Each team in this division started the season with playoff hopes, except for maybe the Columbus Blue Jackets. But Columbus has improved quickly, which has made for a crowded division. It's difficult to handicap this race because so much of the season is left and things like injuries will factor into performances, so we'll look at each team and determine whether its playoff hopes are legitimate or not.

The teams at the top

Let's start with the three best. Carolina, Washington and the Rangers are pulling away from the rest of the division.

Alexander Ovechkin looks ageless with 19 goals. The captain netted a hat trick Friday against the Panthers, and while that might be standard for Ovi, it's not every day you see a 36-year-old score at that pace.

He's putting up 1.68 points per game, which ranks third in the NHL, and has recaptured some magic with Evgeny Kuznetsov. A reinvigorated Kuznetsov is important—for himself, considering the Caps looked into offloading him over the summer, but especially for the depleted lineup.

T.J. Oshie is out with a foot injury, Anthony Mantha is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury, Lars Eller has been in COVID-19 protocol since Nov. 16, Nicklas Backstrom started the season on injured reserve after offseason hip surgery, and Conor Sheary and Justin Schultz are both day-to-day.

The subplot is Ovechkin's chase to match Wayne Gretzky's all-time scoring record. He needs 145 to match the Great One's record of 894 goals, and with the way he's playing, he could knock off 30 more this season.

Carolina is one of the best possession teams in the league in 5-on-5. This has been the Hurricanes' calling card for a few years. It's a straightforward approach: Shoot the puck. A lot. The best defense in today's NHL is offense.

Buoyed by elite shooters like Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho, Carolina started the season winning nine straight. A plus-23 goal differential suggests these numbers are sustainable, and this has been an elite team for years.

Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta might not be an elite goaltending tandem, but Andersen is having a bounce-back season. Until he slips, the doubters can remain quiet. 

The Rangers have been among the worst teams in the league at 5-on-5. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, their 45.19 Corsi percentage is the lowest in the NHL. The bulk of their offense has come from Chris Kreider (15 goals). Only 37 of the team's 59 goals have been scored at even strength. But they're defending well and have had elite goaltending from Igor Shesterkin. 

The Rangers have made it known they would like to take the next step in their rebuild and make the playoffs. This could be the year, and it should with the high-end talent they possess, but they might be on the bubble with other teams on their heels.

The teams in the middle

A cluster of teams is within a few points of one another. The Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins each have 24 points. The New Jersey Devils have 22, and the Philadelphia Flyers have 20. The Blue Jackets and Devils are on the upswing, and the Flyers and Penguins appear to be hanging on, trying to stave off rebuilds. 

The Penguins are sticking around in the standings because of goalie Tristan Jarry. Last year, some blamed Jarry for Pittsburgh's lack of success. The club cleared the path for Jarry by parting ways with Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray, and many wondered if that was the right move, especially as Fleury played Vezina-caliber hockey in Las Vegas. 

Some of the criticism was valid, but Jarry is proving to be the No. 1 goalie the club envisioned he would be. 

After shutting out the Islanders on Friday, Jarry's .936 save percentage is tied for third in the league, and his mark of 9.63 goals saved above average is the third-best. His performance has been crucial considering the Penguins went without Sidney Crosby to start the season and Evgeni Malkin is still on IR. 

The Devils and the Blue Jackets have a road map in place. They know where they want to go, and they're attempting to get there through talent development. New Jersey is seeing good results as players like Dawson Mercer and Yegor Sharangovich play big roles. When the Devils finally get Jack Hughes healthy again, they could be dangerous. 

But the Flyers are in a tough spot. They have lost six straight, and the season appears to be falling apart. The lack of roster depth has been exposed as injuries to key players like Ryan Ellis have piled up. Philadelphia is in a precarious spot and may need to blow it up and start trying to retain assets. It's right up against the salary cap, so it's tough for general manager Chuck Fletcher to make any moves that might improve the team in the short term.

The one good thing the Flyers have going for them is their draft capital. They have all but one pick each of the next two years. It's time for them to get younger, and they can do that with high picks and prospects. It might not be a palatable move, but Claude Giroux is in the final year of his contract, so trading the captain at the deadline might be a painful but necessary move.

The Islanders

What to make of the Islanders? Many (myself included) picked them to win the division. The team seemed poised for another long playoff run. A new arena. A top coach. This was supposed to be the year it came together.

It still could be. We know the Islanders are capable of reeling off five, six, seven or even eight wins at a time. Instead, they've lost eight straight. They're 5-10-2 with only 12 points.

How can a Stanley Cup contender be this bad?

You could start with COVID-19. The Isles have eight players in COVID protocol, and their next two games are postponed. The league was late on postponing games, forcing them to play with as many as seven players in protocol.

Plus, they're without defenseman Ryan Pulock because of injury, and Brock Nelson is hurt too. 

It's still early, but is it getting late early for the Islanders? This team has proved doubters wrong many times in the past. Barry Trotz and his system are never really out of the game. But with the division this competitive, one of the Eastern Conference favorites could be left out this spring.

Fenway Sports Group reached an agreement to buy a controlling interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, pending NHL approval.

 "The Pittsburgh Penguins are a premier National Hockey League franchise with a very strong organization, a terrific history and a vibrant, passionate fan base," FSG Chairman Tom Werner said in a statement. "We will work diligently to continue building on the remarkable Penguins' tradition of championships and exciting play.

"We are particularly excited to welcome Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle to FSG and have the utmost respect for all they have done to build the Penguins into the perennially successful franchise we know today. We look forward to working with Mario, Ron and the entire Penguins front office team."

Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle will remain with the ownership group and be "closely aligned" with FSG. Lemieux, the former Penguins great, famously helped save the franchise from relocation by purchasing it in 1999 alongside Burkle.

No purchase price was made public, but it was reported by Dejan Kovacevic of DK Pittsburgh Sports to be around $900 million. Lemieux and Burkle originally purchased the franchise for $107 million. 

FSG owns the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool Football Club and is part owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. The company has a valuation of $7 billion.

It's a virtual certainty the Penguins franchise will see an influx of cash with its new ownership group, which will want to make a splash and return to Stanley Cup contention as soon as possible. Pittsburgh has made the playoffs in each of the last 15 seasons but hasn't gotten out of the second round since winning the 2017 Stanley Cup.

The team's aging roster could use an influx of youth, which may come when the new group takes hold and begins reshaping the franchise in its vision. 

New York Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin explained to reporters why he threw his glove at Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand with 12 seconds left in the Blueshirts' 5-2 road win over the B's on Friday.

"I didn't really understand what he said in the moment because we had a little conversation with bad energy," Panarin said Saturday.

"Then I hear something about Russia in that moment, and then with that energy, that can't be something good about Russia. So, that's why I lose my mind and then I did what I did."

Panarin was born and raised in Korkino, located in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia.

Vincent Z. Mercogliano of Lohud.com explained the situation further:

A person close to the situation told lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, that Marchand touched a nerve with Panarin by evoking unfounded assault allegations made against him by former KHL coach Andrei Nazarov in February. He was accused of beating a young woman in 2011, but the accusations have been widely dispelled and were believed to be politically motivated.

Panarin took a nine-game leave of absence to ensure the safety of his remaining family in Russia, which has made it a delicate subject. During training camp in September, he reiterated his preference not to discuss it.

The person said that Marchand brought up Russian president Vladimir Putin, whom Panarin has been openly critical of in the past, and taunted Panarin by saying, 'Nobody in your country likes you.'

The NHL announced that Panarin was fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct following the throw:

Panarin was clearly disturbed by Marchand's alleged comments and provided more remarks.

"I just can't control myself after those words," Panarin said. "It's important to think that I didn't start it. I didn't say good things about him, too, but I think when you touch country, it's different. Probably all Russians would want to defend their country."

Panarin also had some words regarding Marchand, who was not fined but received a matching misconduct penalty along with the 30-year-old Ranger.

"I don't like him for a long time," Panarin said. "A lot of people don't like him."

Panarin is in the third year of a seven-season, $81.5 million contract, so a $5,000 fine won't be too painful to pay up.

Plus, the Rangers are dominating with a 13-4-3 record through 20 games, including a three-game win streak. Panarin has five goals and 16 assists for 21 points.

So all is well for Panarin and the Rangers right now as they await the Philadelphia Flyers' arrival to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET for their next matchup.