NHL Central

The Minnesota Wild announced Tuesday that they will buy out the contracts of winger Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter. 

Parise and Suter can become free agents July 28.

Both Parise and Suter signed 13-year, $98 million contracts with the Wild on July 4, 2012.

Prior to signing with the Wild, Parise spent seven seasons with the New Jersey Devils, and Suter spent seven seasons with the Nashville Predators. They would go on to be teammates in Minnesota for nine years.

Parise, 36, appeared in 558 regular-season games for the Wild, registering 199 goals and 201 assists for 400 points. The 36-year-old Suter posted 55 goals and 314 assists for 369 points in 656 games, and he had a plus-62 rating.

While Parise was never an All-Star in Minnesota, he did hit the 30-goal mark in 2014-15, and his 33 goals and 62 points that season were his most as a member of the Wild.

Meanwhile, Suter was an All-Star in both 2015 and 2017. The 2016-17 season was arguably the best of his career, as he finished with nine goals and 31 assists for 40 points and led the NHL with a plus-34 rating.

In nine seasons with Parise and Suter on the roster, the Wild reached the playoffs eight times, although they never made it past the second round.

While Parise and Suter were important figures in terms of providing leadership this past season, their on-ice production dipped.

Parise finished with just seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points in 45 games, while Suter had three goals and 16 assists for 19 points in 56 games.

There is hope for the American veterans to rebound in new surroundings, though, as they aren't far removed from strong showings. Parise had 25 goals two seasons ago, while Suter registered 48 points that same season.

Per Michael Russo of The Athletic, buying out Parise and Suter will result in the Wild paying each of them $6.7 million over the next eight years.

Russo added that the move will save the Wild $10.33 million against the salary cap in 2021-22 and $2.33 million the following season, although it will cost them more than $15 million against the cap in the following two campaigns.  

Longtime Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne announced his retirement from the NHL on Tuesday:

"For more than 15 years, I've been on an incredible, life-changing journey with the Nashville Predators that has taken me to more places than I could have ever imagined and given me more than I could ever hope to give back. This decision wasn't easy, but I know this is the right one at the right time. As I announce my retirement, I'm thankful for my parents, sisters, fiancé Erika, everyone in the Predators organization - management, coaches and trainers - my teammates and my youth coaches back in Finland. Last but not least, I'm thankful for the people of Nashville. Each of you helped me grow into the man, father and person I am today."

The 38-year-old Rinne made his NHL debut with the Preds during the 2005-06 season and spent his entire 15-year NHL career in Nashville.

Rinne appeared in 683 regular-season games, making 666 starts and going 369-213-75 with a 2.43 goals-against average, .917 save percentage and 60 shutouts.

The Finland native ranks first in Nashville history in virtually every major goaltending category, including wins, GAA and shutouts.

Rinne was a four-time All-Star and won the 2018 Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender. He was a Vezina finalist on three other occasions.

Per the Predators, Rinne is one of only 12 goalies in NHL history with at least 350 wins and 60 shutouts. Eight of them are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Rinne enjoyed playoff success as well, going 45-44 in 89 starts and posting a 2.49 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and five shutouts.

He led the Predators to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the only Final appearance in franchise history. They fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

Rinne, who holds the NHL record for most wins and shutouts by a Finnish goaltender, split time in goal with Juuse Saros over the past few seasons.

Saros was the primary starter in 2020-21, but Rinne appeared in 24 games and made 21 starts. He went 10-12-1 with a 2.84 GAA, .907 save percentage and two shutouts.

One of those shutouts came in the final game of his career as he blanked the Carolina Hurricanes on May 10 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

In an article for the Players' Tribune, Rinne wrote that he wasn't certain that night whether it was his final game, but he knew it was a possibility.

He said having his fiancee and son in the crowd meant a lot to him, as did his teammates' telling him to essentially take a curtain call at center ice.

The capper for Rinne's NHL career came after the season when he won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which is given annually to the player who "best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community."

An eighth-round pick in the 2004 NHL draft, Rinne exceeded expectations during his NHL career and established himself as one of the top goalies of the past two decades.

One of the players who says he was sexually assaulted by a former Chicago Blackhawks video coach will not cooperate with the investigation commissioned by the team.

An attorney for the former player, Susan Loggans, provided a statement to TSN's Rick Westhead:

The Blackhawks have been lying all along, denying in court documents that this sexual misconduct even took place, so why would we have any faith now in an investigation that has been paid for by the Blackhawks?

Also, there is no assurance from anyone, not at the Blackhawks and not at the NHL, that the results of the team’s investigation will be made public. Why would we bother to participate in an investigation that may ultimately be buried and hidden from public view?

Loggans went on to claim the Blackhawks' investigation is "just window dressing." 

She told Westhead she floated a proposal where the former player would conduct an interview with representatives from Jenner & Block LLP. In return, she would have the opportunity to speak with executives from the team. According to Westhead, the Blackhawks didn't grant the request.

In February 2014, Brad Aldrich was sentenced to nine months in jail after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student between 16 and 18 years of age. He had most recently served as a volunteer at Houghton High School in Michigan after having worked for the Blackhawks.

The renewed scrutiny toward Aldrich began after a former player from Chicago's 2010 Stanley Cup-winning squad filed suit against the organization. The player said he and a teammate were sexually assaulted by Aldrich, and he took issue with how thoroughly he thought the organization vetted the claims.

Adam Rogowin, the team's vice president for communications, responded and said the Blackhawks took the allegations "very seriously" and that they "lack merit" based on what team officials discovered at the time.

The franchise was subject to a second lawsuit in May from a former high school hockey player in Michigan. The plaintiff's representatives said the Blackhawks displayed "utter indifference or conscious disregard for the safety of others" by not firing Aldrich and subsequently providing positive recommendations to prospective employers.

Westhead reported June 17 that high-ranking executives of the Blackhawks, including then-president John McDonough, vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac and general manager Stan Bowman staged a meeting in May 2010 with then-skills coach Paul Vincent.

During the conversation, Vincent alerted the officials about allegations made against Aldrich by two players.

"The players allegedly told Vincent that on separate occasions Aldrich had gotten them drunk in his apartment, watched pornography, and then tried to perform oral sex on them," Westhead wrote.

Although Vincent suggested the team report the allegations to Chicago police, the Blackhawks reportedly didn't take that step.

The Athletic's Mark Lazerus, Katie Strang and Scott Powers spoke with a different member of the 2009-10 team who said that "every single guy on the team knew" what had been leveled against Aldrich.

"That doesn't bother me, that they let him take pictures with the Cup," the player said. "What bothers me is they fired him, but they didn't take it to the cops. ... They let him get a job with a U-18 team. They let him go work with minors. They let this happen."

Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz wrote in a June memo the organization would hold an "independent review" into the matter.

St. Louis Blues' superstar winger Vladimir Tarasenko has requested a trade after losing trust in the organization, according to The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford. 

Issues with the team reportedly arose from two shoulder surgeries performed by team physicians that still left the 29-year-old Russian ailing. A third surgery in 2020 performed by a doctor not affiliated with the Blues discovered ligament damage from Tarasenko's initial injury in 2018 wasn't corrected in either of the previous two operations. 

Rutherford noted Tarasenko notified the team of discomfort in his shoulder before rejoining the club in Edmonton during the playoffs only for the team to delay further testing. He would play just four games before returning to St. Louis for another evaluation. 

The 2019 Stanley Cup champion has played just 110 games since the end of the 2017-18 season. 

According to Rutherford, this mistrust hasn't gone unnoticed and general manager Doug Armstrong has been "quietly shopping" his star for "a while": 

There was a lot of criticism of Tarasenko’s performance last season—even within the organization—and sources say the lack of trust became a bigger issue at that point because the Blues weren’t taking ownership for the mishandling of the first two surgeries.

Meanwhile, there was lingering disappointment from Tarasenko after the Blues named Ryan O’Reilly as the 23rd captain in team history the previous summer. That story, which originated in Russian media, died because Tarasenko was unavailable for comment to local media until he returned to the lineup three months later, when it became a moot topic.

After eight seasons in St. Louis, it was all enough to convince Tarasenko he needed to leave town. The three-time All-Star has two years remaining on an eight-year, $60 million contract and will carry a cap hit of $7.5 million in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 before becoming an unrestricted free agent. 

Between his salary and a desire to play for a contender, Rutherford believes likely destinations for Tarasenko include the New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers.

There's no timeline for a potential deal, however the upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft, NHL entry draft and start of free agency could help move things along rather quickly. 

The Minnesota Wild crossed off a major item from their offseason to-do list, signing center Joel Eriksson Ek to an eight-year, $42 million deal Friday that runs through the 2028-29 season.

Eriksson Ek is coming off a career season with 19 goals and 11 assists. He was set to become a restricted free agent following his age 24 season.

The Wild finished the 2020-21 season 35-16-5 (75 points) for third in the West before the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the club in the first round of the playoffs. 

Eriksson Ek played a major role in Minnesota's success last year while finishing fourth in voting for the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward. He'll earn an AAV of $5.25 million and has a modified, 10-team no-trade clause that kicks in during Year 4 of the extension, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo.

It's the second-longest contract in franchise history after Zach Parise and Ryan Suter signed matching 13-year, $98 million deals in 2012. 

Eriksson Ek's deal comes as the Wild work on new contracts for restricted free agents Kevin Fiala and reigning Rookie of the Year Kirill Kaprizov.

Per Russo: 

The Wild are currently working to extend Kirill Kaprizov’s contract, but as of now, he’s seeking a short-term deal while the Wild would prefer to sign him long-term. There’s a worry that the KHL could swoop in and try to bring him back, but GM Bill Guerin did his best to diffuse that situation last week.

Guerin told Russo any talk of Kaprizov returning to the KHL was "news to me" and insisted he's not worried about getting a deal done. 

“We love Kirill, we want to get him signed. We know sometimes these things take awhile, but you have to be patient, you have to be open-minded and just keep moving forward. These things just aren’t done overnight," Guerin said. "I’ve experienced it as a manager, and I’ve experienced it as a player. For me, nothing’s gone cold. My door’s always open, my phone’s always on. So … we just got to keep working at it. I know Kirill’s agent feels the same way."

Minnesota entered the offseason with three franchise pillars in flux. At least one of those situations has been solved by Eriksson Ek's new deal. The other two are still pending with no timeline for a resolution available.  

Duncan Keith's 16-year stint with the Chicago Blackhawks may have reached its end. 

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Blackhawks are working with Keith to move him to a team in either Western Canada or the Pacific Northwest this offseason. Keith has family in the area, including a young son, he would like to be closer to. 

Keith, 37, has been one of the Hawks' most valuable players over the last decade, helping the team win three Stanley Cups in six years in addition to taking home the 2015 Conn Smythe Trophy. In 1,192 regular-season games with Chicago, the defenseman has tallied 105 goals and 520 assists and averaged 24:57 of ice time per night. 

Keith is one of seven players who had a role in Chicago's runs to the Stanley Cup in 2009-10, 2012-13 and 2014-15 along with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson. 

Sharp was traded to the Dallas Stars after the 2014-15 season. Hjalmarsson was traded to the Arizona Coyotes after the 2016-17 season. Hossa was forced into retirement ahead of the 2017-18 season because of a progressive skin disorder. Seabrook—Keith's longtime defensive partner—was forced to retire in March after multiple injuries to his hips and shoulder. Toews missed all of the 2020-21 season with what he called "chronic immune response syndrome," and while he's training to return to the ice, it's unclear if he'll play again. 

Kane and Keith remain the only two players from the Hawks dynasty to contribute on a nightly basis. Keith continued to show his ability to play significant minutes last season, averaging 23:25 of ice time.

The No. 54 overall pick of the Blackhawks out of Michigan State in 2002, Keith has two years remaining on a 13-year, $72 million deal. He carries a salary-cap hit of $5.5 million each of the next two seasons. 

News of a potential trade comes as the Blackhawks confront increasing scrutiny over the handling of former video coach Bradley Aldrich in 2010. The franchise is facing two lawsuits stemming from alleged sexual abuse by Aldrich, including the alleged abuse of two Blackhawks players during the 2009-10 season and a high school player in Michigan in 2013. 

Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews addressed being diagnosed with chronic immune response syndrome, which left him unavailable for the 2020-21 NHL season.

The three-time Stanley Cup winner explained how he was experiencing prolonged recoveries and that his immune system "was reacting to everything that I did, any kind of stress, anything that I would do throughout the day."

Toews has since resumed training in Chicago and referenced his goal of getting back on the ice for live games.

The Blackhawks announced in December that Toews would be out indefinitely with an undisclosed medical issue. The 33-year-old said he had felt "drained and lethargic" at times during the offseason, which led him to seek out doctors for an explanation.

Neither he nor the team provided much beyond that after the initial announcement, so Toews' comments Wednesday provide the necessary context to eliminate any lingering rumors or speculation.

The good news is that Toews and his doctors appear to have figured how to manage the diagnosis to allow for him to play again.

In addition to being the team captain, Toews is eighth in franchise history in games played (943) and sixth in goals (345). Along with Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, he's also one of the last players remaining from Chicago's run atop the NHL in the 2010s.

"He’s obviously a huge part of our team and we’ve missed him,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said of Toews. “He does a lot of different things that add up to winning. First and foremost, it’s his competitiveness, and how badly he wants to win. He kills penalties, he plays power play, he plays against top players, he wins faceoffs. Obviously an important player."

The Blackhawks will undoubtedly benefit from the tangible things he brings to the table next season along with the advantages of his experience and leadership.

Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov was named the 2020-21 Calder Trophy winner Tuesday.

He beat out Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson and Carolina Hurricanes' goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for the award, which is given to the league's top rookie.

Kaprizov was excellent in the 2020-21 campaign, leading all rookies in goals (27), power-play goals (eight), points (51) and shots on goal (157). He also led the Wild in goals and points, playing a huge part in the team qualifying for the postseason.

All of that while being a young player in a new country, separated from his family in Russia.

The 24-year-old told reporters after the season:

"There wasn't anything super challenging throughout the season. I think, especially on the ice, things went well. Obviously, there are things I need to improve on and work on. Not being able to see my family or have my brother or my mom come see me during the game and sitting at home, not really getting a chance to get out much, and just go to games and back home, I think that was probably something that was more challenging."

Kaprizov is the first player in Wild history to win the Calder Trophy.

Robertson, 21, finished with 17 goals and 28 assists, the most among rookies. His 39 even-strength points also led all rookies.

"He's got to be the most improved player in the league," Stars coach Rick Bowness said in May. "His improvement from [where he was] in January to where he is now, there's absolutely no comparison. His competitive nature has improved, his intensity has improved, his play without the puck has improved. We'll keep working on that with him."

"I just think you're seeing the tip of the iceberg with Jason," he added. "There's huge upside."

Nedeljkovic, 25, was a stone wall in goal, going 15-5-3 for the Hurricanes and helping lead them to a playoff berth. His 1.90 goals-against average and .932 save percentage were the best marks among NHL goals who appeared in 20 or more games.

"I mean, we wouldn't be where we are right now without him," Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin told reporters in June. "From that standpoint, we're thrilled for him. He's grinded in the [American Hockey League] for a while, got his chance this year. He took full advantage of it. We're thrilled for him. It's awesome to see him have the success he's had and be named as a finalist."

The Chicago Blackhawks are hiring a firm to conduct an independent review of sexual assault allegations against former video coach Brad Aldrich.

"Much has recently been said and written regarding the two lawsuits filed against the organization stemming from alleged events that occurred in 2010," Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz wrote in a memo, per ESPN's Emily Kaplan. "We want to reiterate to you that we take the allegations described in these lawsuits very seriously. They in no way reflect this organization's culture or values."

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters Monday the league could discipline franchise depending on the outcome of the investigation.

In February 2014, Aldrich received a nine-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student between 16 and 18 years of age.

A former Blackhawks player filed suit against the team in April, saying Aldrich sexually assaulted him and a teammate. The plaintiff also said the organization didn't do enough to look into the allegations he made.

Adam Rogowin, the Blackhawks vice president for communications, said the team took the allegations "very seriously" and that they "lack merit" based on what team officials discovered at the time.

However, a former high school hockey player in Michigan also filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks in May. The plaintiff, John Doe 2, said he was assaulted by Aldrich in March 2013 and claimed the Blackhawks displayed "utter indifference or conscious disregard for the safety of others" since they allegedly provided positive references for Aldrich.

Rogowin said issuing a comment "would be inappropriate" since the litigation is ongoing.

TSN's Rick Westhead reported June 17 that front-office members of the Blackhawks, including then-president John McDonough, vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac and general manager Stan Bowman, held a meeting in May 2010. At the meeting, skills coach Paul Vincent reportedly explained that two players said they had been sexually assaulted by a video coach. Team officials allegedly declined to forward the allegations to Chicago police.

A member of the Stanley Cup-winning Blackhawks squad in 2009-10 told The Athletic's Mark Lazerus, Katie Strang and Scott Powers that "every single guy on the team knew" about the allegations.

The player also expressed frustration at what he believed to be inaction by the Blackhawks.

"That doesn't bother me, that they let him take pictures with the Cup," the player said. "What bothers me is they fired him, but they didn't take it to the cops. ... They let him get a job with a U-18 team. They let him go work with minors. They let this happen."