Calgary Flames

Connor McDavid continued his remarkable playoff run with an overtime goal Thursday night to eliminate the Calgary Flames and punch the Edmonton Oilers' ticket to the Western Conference Finals.

If McDavid hadn't already established himself as the NHL's best player before this year's Stanley Cup playoffs, he's done it over the past month with 26 points (seven goals and 19 assists) in 12 postseason games to put the Oilers within eight wins of a title.

Hall of Fame winger Teemu Selanne is among those who've taken notice:

Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic analyzed McDavid's performance before Game 5. He determined the 25-year-old center is on pace for 11.2 wins of value in the playoffs, which would be the highest mark of the current era (since 2008) and puts him closer to the more heavily involved NBA superstars than his own NHL counterparts.

"Connor McDavid is in god mode," Luszczyszyn wrote.

Those comments proved prophetic as the two-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner ended Calgary's season and sent Edmonton to the conference finals for the first time since 2006.

Here's a look at some other reaction to McDavid's latest highlight-reel moment:

The Oilers advance to face either the Colorado Avalanche or St. Louis Blues in the penultimate round. The Avs hold a 3-2 advantage in that series.

A showdown between McDavid and Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon would be must-see TV.

The fifth-highest scoring playoff game in NHL history went down in the Battle of Alberta on Wednesday, as the host Calgary Flames defeated the Edmonton Oilers 9-6 to kickstart their second-round postseason series.

Calgary winger Matthew Tkachuk potted a hat trick, and the Flames scored twice in the first 51 seconds and added a third at 6:05 to chase Oilers goalie Mike Smith.

The Flames held a 6-2 lead at 8:24 of the second period following a Tkachuk power-play goal, but Edmonton responded with four unanswered goals for a 6-6 tie less than two minutes into the third.

However, Rasmus Andersson responded shortly thereafter for the game-winner before Tkachuk scored twice to complete his hat trick.

Naturally, this game served as one of the more chaotic and entertaining hockey games in recent memory.

Oilers center Connor McDavid's four points (one goal, three assists) led all players. Flames center Blake Coleman and Oilers left wing Zach Hyman scored twice apiece. Calgary outshot Edmonton 48-28.

Game 2 will take place in Calgary on Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The Calgary Flames announced Monday they have acquired Tyler Toffoli in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal will receive a 2022 first-round pick (top-10 protected), a 2023 fifth-round pick, forward Tyler Pitlick and unsigned drafted player Emil Heineman, who was a second-round pick in 2020.

Toffoli scored nine goals with 17 assists in 37 games for the Canadiens, which are looking to rebuild after producing an NHL-worst 23 points in 48 games.

The 29-year-old has been much more effective in the past, scoring a team-high 28 goals for the Canadiens in 2020-21 as the squad m  ade a surprising run to the Stanley Cup final. He tallied five goals and nine assists in 22 postseason games.

Toffoli also helped the Los Angeles Kings win a championship in 2014 and has scored at least 20 goals in four different seasons.

The experience and production could be huge for Calgary as the team looks to make a deep run in the playoffs.

A six-game winning streak put the Flames at 26-13-6, good for second in the Pacific and one point behind first-place Vegas Golden Knights. The organization has just one postseason series win since 2004, but the tools are there to contend in 2022 with a defense that ranks second in the NHL in goals allowed per game (2.40).

Scoring depth was one of the biggest question marks with few reliable options behind Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane. Strengthening the second and third lines will be key when the playoffs come around.

Montreal adds an experienced center in Pitlick as well as significant draft capital to build toward the future. Heineman, 20, also has plenty of upside after scoring 11 goals in 36 games this year for Leksands IF in the Swedish Hockey League.   

The Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers have been shut down through the NHL's holiday break because of COVID-19 outbreaks within each club, the league announced Friday.

Calgary has already missed matchups with the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators and Toronto Maple Leafs. It will also miss games against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken.

Colorado's postponements are for games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins, while Florida will miss contests against the Minnesota Wild, Blackhawks and Predators. 

The Flames have 19 players and 13 club employees in COVID-19 protocols. Five Avalanche players are in protocols, and the Panthers have seven, per ESPN's Kristen Shilton. 

Other NHL franchises are also experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, including the Boston Bruins, whose matchup against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday was postponed. 

The NHL has mandated enhanced health and safety protocols amid the outbreaks across the league, including increased mask-wearing, virtual meetings and daily testing. 

ESPN's Emily Kaplan noted that the more games are postponed, the less likely NHL players will participate in the Winter Olympics. The league may need that time for makeup games.

NHL Players' Association Executive Director Don Fehr said last week that players are uncertain about participating in the Beijing Olympics because they haven't received definitive answers about COVID-19 protocols for the Games, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. 

It's unclear if the NHL is considering a leaguewide shutdown given the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases. 

The NHL has further delayed the Calgary Flames' return to play after 17 additional members of the organization entered the league's COVID Protocol, including seven players, and postponed Saturday's scheduled matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets.  

The Flames last played on Saturday, losing to the Bruins 4-2. 

The NHL, much like the NFL and NBA at the moment, is seeing a rise in cases. The Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators all have multiple players and/or staffers in the league's COVID-19 protocol.

The NHL postponed Tuesday's scheduled matchup between the Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild after Carolina's spike in positive tests. 

Head coach Darryl Sutter is among those in the protocol for the Flames, the team announced, while the players added on Wednesday include Rasmus Andersson, Byron Froese, Johnny Gaudreau, Erik Gudbranson, Trevor Lewis, Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Pitlick. 

Calgary has now had four games postponed. 

Per ESPN, 130 NHL players have been placed in the COVID protocol this season. 

In the NBA, meanwhile, rising cases led to the league postponing two Chicago Bulls games this week, with 10 of the team's players in the health and safety protocols. And the Brooklyn Nets currently have seven players in the protocols.

"Like the rest of the country, and as was predicted by our infectious disease specialists, we have seen an increase of cases around the league," NBA spokesman Mike Bass told reporters this week. "As we have since the pandemic began in March 2020, we will continue to follow the science and data, and will, in close partnership with the players' association, update our protocols as deemed appropriate by our medical experts."

The Calgary Flames reportedly have a trade offer on the table for Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel.

Kevin Weekes of ESPN, NHL Network and TSN reported the rumor Wednesday.

The Flames' deal would center around 23-year-old left wing Matthew Tkachuk, who has four goals and two assists in nine games this year.

He has 114 goals and 170 assists in 358 lifetime games over six seasons with the Flames, who selected Tkachuk sixth overall in the 2016 NHL draft.

On Tuesday evening, ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported that the Flames and Vegas Golden Knights were the two finalists in the Eichel sweepstakes.

Kaplan also said that both teams were OK with Eichel going forth with his desire to have artificial disk replacement surgery in his neck, which has been a sticking point between him and the Sabres.

While Vegas and Calgary are reportedly the front-runners in the Eichel sweepstakes, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reported the St. Louis Blues are interested as well:

John Vogl of The Athletic also reported news that would seem to precipitate a move:

The Flames would appear to be in the lead for Eichel given that monster trade offer, although Vegas could come over the top. As Lyle Richardson of the Hockey News wrote, the Golden Knights have a need for a top-line center, and Eichel could be a fit there.

For now, Eichel remains a Sabre, although it doesn't appear that will be the case much longer.

Whichever team lands Eichel will get a player who has amassed 139 goals and 216 assists in 375 NHL games since 2015.

The Calgary Flames and Vegas Golden Knights are reportedly the finalists in pursuit of a trade for Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported the update Tuesday night and noted the talks are at the "1-yard line":

Eichel and the Sabres have been engaged in an extended standoff about what type of surgery he should receive to overcome a neck injury suffered last season.

The 25-year-old former Boston University standout has pushed for an artificial disk replacement his camp believes will give him a better quality of life moving forward, while the organization prefers a traditional disk fusion since the artificial disk surgery hasn't been performed on an active NHL player.

Based on the league's collective bargaining agreement, the team gets the final call on medical procedures, so Eichel has remained sidelined waiting for a possible trade.

Kaplan said both the Flames and Golden Knights are willing to allow Eichel to get the artificial disk replacement, which would come with a "minimum" of three months recovery time before he'd be cleared to play.

The timeline is important because the second overall pick in the 2015 draft would be a lock for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing if healthy. The Americans' first game is set for Feb. 10 against the host nation of China, and the tournament runs through Feb. 20.

It seems unlikely the team that ultimately acquires Eichel would want his first action to come in the Olympics after being out since March, though.

Even if a trade isn't finalized in the next few days, it's hard to imagine a scenario where the dynamic center plays again for the Sabres given the longstanding dispute about the neck procedure and the team's overall lack of success since it drafted him.

Eichel, who's under contract through 2025-26 as part of his eight-year, $80 million deal, has done his part, scoring 355 points (139 goals and 216 assists) in 375 games for the Sabres. Alas, the franchise hasn't been able to put enough talent around him over the past six years to climb up the standings.

While the sides are almost definitely about to head their separate ways, there's still pressure on Buffalo general manager Kevyn Adams to deliver a sizable return package for the three-time All-Star to help jump-start the latest rebuilding effort after several failed attempts over the past decade.

Once healthy, Eichel would immediately take over as the No. 1 center in either Calgary or Vegas, and with more talent around him, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him rank among the scoring leaders next season when he has a chance to play a full schedule.

The Calgary Flames announced head coach Geoff Ward was fired following Thursday night's 7-3 win over the Ottawa Senators and replaced by Darryl Sutter, who previously coached the Flames from December 2002 through July 2006.

Ward had compiled a 35-26-5 record since being hired in November 2019. That included an 11-11-2 mark this season, which put the team fifth in the NHL's North division.

The Flames decided to make a change after losing six of their past nine games, including a four-game series with the Senators, who sit at the bottom of the North division, during which Calgary allowed 17 goals.

Frustration started to mount in mid-February, and it was evident in Ward's postgame comments following a 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 17.

"It's time to put this thing to bed and take charge and take control of what we can," he told reporters. "We certainly can control the way start, we certainly can control how we pay attention to details, how hard we compete, how much we care. All those things are certainly within our control. It's time for us to start giving a s--t about it."

Ward held his typical postgame media session after Thursday's triumph over the Sens and didn't appear aware the team was about to make a coaching change.

"We've got to get ourselves ready again for another hard hockey game," he said. "We're really not thinking about what's happened in the past; we're thinking about what we need to do to prepare ourselves [for] the next one."

Sutter last served as a head coach for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2016-17 season. He led the Kings to Stanley Cup titles in 2012 and 2014.

He most recently worked as an adviser to the Anaheim Ducks beginning in July 2019 and previously spent time as a head coach for the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks in addition to his stints with the Flames and Kings. His career record stands at 634-467-101-83.

In 2018, Sutter mostly ruled out a return to full-time coaching, but the 62-year-old Alberta native left the door open for a possible return to the Flames.

"I would have listened for sure," Sutter said about the Calgary vacancy before the team hired Bill Peters, who resigned in November 2019 after being accused of using a racial slur and was replaced by Ward.

Sutter's return to the Flames' bench will come Saturday night when they visit Rogers Place to face off with the Edmonton Oilers.

The Calgary Flames announced Monday that Geoff Ward, who led the Flames to a 25-15-3 record en route to the Stanley Cup playoffs after being named interim head coach in November, had been appointed as the 20th head coach in franchise history.

Ward was promoted from associate coach when Bill Peters resigned amid accusations of using racist language.

The 58-year-old began his NHL coaching career in 2007 as an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins, with whom he won a Stanley Cup in 2011. He held the same role with the New Jersey Devils from 2015-18 before joining the Flames in May 2018.

In an interview with Flames staffer Ty Pilson, Ward said he intends to talk with his players to get their feedback as he plans his strategy for his first season as an official head coach in the NHL:

"We want to do everything we can to give them not only the opportunity to become the best they can be, but also become part of a group that is ultimately able to win Stanley Cups. Having them fully invested in what's going is where that starts. The only way to do that is to make sure they know you care and that you have their best interest at heart."

In addition to coaching stints in Germany, where he won the DEL Championship in 2014-15 as the head coach of Adler Mannheim and assisted the national team for three years, Ward was an assistant coach at the University of Waterloo and coached junior hockey in Canada before making the move to the AHL in 2001 to become assistant and then head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs.

The Flames ranked fourth in the Western Conference and eighth in the league in points percentage this season, with their power-play percentage of 25.7 ranking second in the league after Ward took over.

He led the team to a 3-1 series victory over the Winnipeg Jets in the qualifying round before they fell to the Dallas Stars in six games in the postseason.