Mitch Marner, Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad are off the board, leaving slim pickings in NHL free agency.

An 84-game season is coming to the NHL as part of an extension of the collective bargaining agreement.

Hockey is seeing a surge in popularity and buzz, fed by the 4 Nations tournament, Alex Ovechkin’s stirring run to the NHL career goals record and the Florida Panthers repeating as Stanley Cup champions.

The U.S. named Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy as its first six players for the 2026 Olympics.

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner of the Maple Leafs shined in the NHL All-Star 3-on-3 tournament on home ice in Toronto.

Auston Matthews got his first goal of the series to break a scoreless tie in the third period, Joseph Woll stopped 21 shots, and the Toronto Maple Leafs kept their season alive by beating the Florida Panthers 2-0 in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Friday night.

The Florida Panthers are playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night during Game 6 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves, three Florida defensemen scored and the Panthers routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 on Sunday night in Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 on Sunday night in Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Dallas Stars emerged from a seven-game series against Colorado, and the Edmonton Oilers rallied from down 2-0 to eliminate Los Angeles and move on in the NHL playoffs.

The 4 Nations Face-Off was a one-off, a tournament with no past and no future, a trimmed-down version of the World Cup of Hockey staged because the NHL’s best players have waited so long for something of its kind.

Connor McDavid played in the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, but it was with the 23-and-under Team North America, not Canada.

It didn’t take much to stir Jack Eichel’s national pride in looking ahead to representing the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

The U.

While a vast majority of the 1,312 NHL games through June will take place in North America, the spotlight this season is on international play.

David Pastrnak scored on a feed from Hampus Lindholm 1:54 into overtime and the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in Game 7 to clinch their first-round series and advance in the NHL playoffs.

Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-1 victory over the the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 61st and 62nd goals of the season to go along with an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs built a four-goal lead before hanging on late to down the Florida Panthers 6-4 in a potential first-round playoff preview Monday.

Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season Wednesday night in the Toronto Maple Leafs star’s hometown return, breaking a tie as the fastest U.S.-born player to reach 50 goals at 54 games.

NHL players are returning to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed star center Auston Matthews to a four-year deal, $53 million contract extension.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves and the Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.

John Tavares scored 4:35 into overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 for their first NHL playoff series win in nearly two decades.

The Toronto Maple Leafs wiped out a three-goal deficit in the third period, then beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 on Alexander Kerfoot’s power-play goal at 4:14 of overtime to take a commanding 3-1 series lead in their first-round NHL playoff matchup.

Morgan Reilly scored at 19:15 of overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night in Game 3 of the first-round NHL playoff series.

John Tavares scored with 21.3 seconds remaining in overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Florida 2-1 on Monday night to snap the Panthers’ six-game winning streak.

Brothers Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers declined to wear special Pride-themed warmup jerseys ahead of the team’s 6-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs' latest bid to end a near 20-year run of failing to get past the first round of the playoffs revolves around the addition of center Ryan O'Reilly being acquired in a trade with St. Louis.

Toronto’s Auston Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, beating out Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers to win the award for the first time.

Ross Colton scored twice, Andrei Vasilevskiy had 22 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a fast start and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 in Game 4 to even their first-round playoff series.

Jack Cambell had 32 saves — including three to protect the lead on a late power play — and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

The eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference have been set since before the All-Star break.

Brandon Montour scored 2:26 into overtime and the NHL-leading Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to a franchise-record 13 games by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night.

Five players made their NHL debut Tuesday night, fresh off their college season ending.

The Tampa Bay Lightning haven't been through struggles like this in many years.

Most of the world’s best hockey players are spending this weekend in Las Vegas instead of the Olympic village in Beijing.

Washington star Alexander Ovechkin and high-scoring Edmonton teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl headline the rosters for the NHL All-Star Weekend announced Thursday.

Edmonton captain and reigning league MVP Connor McDavid has been placed on on NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list.

A person with direct knowledge of discussions tells The Associated Press that the NHL is reintroducing enhanced COVID-19 protocols.

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid ran away in the voting to win his second Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after leading the league in points.

The Buffalo Sabres have removed the interim tag from Don Granato and named him the team's full-time coach.

Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon have been named finalists for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.

Many draft-eligible prospects and NHL teams attempting to pick them face an uncertain future after many leagues were unable to hold full seasons or play at all because of the pandemic.

Rewind to 2019 and early 2020 and that description fits the Tampa Bay Lightning, who added some grit and toughness to their talented core and went on to win the Stanley Cup. The Lightning effect was clear as soon as NHL free agency opened. “You need guys that are going to have a little bit of sandpaper. “We maybe have taken a little bit of a step back from the most skillful lineup we’ve ever had to more of a balance between the will and the skill," Poile said. We certainly have a little bit more physicality, a little bit more grit and I think it’s probably and hopefully a better mix than we had last year.”___More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2019, file photo, St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko, right, is congratulated as he passes the team box after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Denver. Tarasenko makes his return after early season shoulder surgery that limited him to three goals in 10 games. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Ditto for St. Louis, the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Blues and Avalanche were navigating through some key injuries before the season was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The hiatus allowed time to heal and now the top two teams in the Western Conference return as Cup favorites. The two teams get things rolling Sunday in Edmonton by facing each other to kick off a round-robin tournament to determine seeding in the West. It should be a fun ride.Back on the ice for the Blues is forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who underwent shoulder surgery in late October.

Pastrnak had his fourth hat trick of the season and the Bruins rolled to their third straight win over the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 on Wednesday night. Pastrnak now has eight career regular-season hat tricks and nine overall, all but one coming in the last two seasons. He is the first Bruins player with four hat tricks in a season since Phil Esposito during the 1974-75 season. The only player in Bruins history with more hat tricks in a single season was Esposito, who had seven in 1970-71. With 41 goals on the season Pastrnak also takes over the NHL lead for goals scored.