The 2017 class has plenty of past-their-prime stars and overrated defensive-defensemen who will be grossly overpaid (ahem, Karl Alzner), but there are still players who can help a team next season, headlined by top prize Kevin Shattenkirk. Hang out at Sporting News for live updates and analysis through the afternoon. The frenzy begins at noon ET. MORE: NHL trade tracker | Full list of UFA, RFA signings 9:03 — The Kings have a new backup goalie: Darcy Kuemper....

The 31-year-old is owed $3.4 million over each of the next two seasons, and TSN’s Pierre Lebrun reported Florida is still looking trade Reimer to avoid a buyout. A former Maple Leaf, Reimer posted a 13-12-5 record in 29 starts with a .900 save percentage and a 3.09 GAA as the backup for the newly retired Roberto Luongo. Moving Reimer’s contract would be massively helpful for the Panthers, who are heavy suitors for top-tier free agents Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin....

Some of the biggest names in the game will be available come 12 p.m. ET on July 1 as unrestricted free agents. Where they’ll land is anyone’s guess, but the salary cap rising only $2 million to $81.5 million does impact who can reel in a big fish and who will net a group of minnows. NHL FREE AGENCY 2019: Complete list of all 31 teams’ RFAs, UFAs Already off the list is one of the biggest fish of them all in defenseman Erik Karlsson, who signed a mega-contract — eight-year, $92 million — to stay in San Jose....

On Monday, the league announced multiple changes for the 2018 edition of the annual showcase, which will take place Saturday, Jan. 27, at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. The NHL’s top players will still compete in many of the same traditional events, such as the fastest skater and accuracy shooting, but some of those competitions will have new components. The accuracy shooting, which typically has been a four-corners drill, will feature a fifth target and LED lighting for each of them....

Many believed the Senators were playing with house money entering the final game of the NHL’s Eastern Conference finals against the defending champion Penguins. They played hard and resilient, but at the end of the day the Penguins’ offense was too much for the Ottawa D to handle. MORE: Stanley Cup Final schedule With the Penguins at home, they kept their foot on the gas and missed some huge opportunities in overtime, but finished the job in the second overtime to advance....

While the Capitals’ star and leader told reporters after a Game 3 tussle it was the Russian rookie who asked him to fight, Svechnikov is staunchly opposing that notion. “I am not a superhero, ask first for a fight,” Svechnikov said Saturday, via the News and Observer. The 2018 No. 2 overall pick by the Hurricanes was knocked out by Ovechkin in Game 3 when he took three hard rights from the Washington veteran and subsequently hit the back of his head on the ice when he fell....

Schwartz didn’t get started until the second period and his first goal could not have come more easily; In one smooth motion, Sharks’ goaltender Martin Jones deflected a rebound right into Schwartz’s stick and moved out of the way to give him a wide open net to shoot at. The eight-year veteran scored his second on a power play early in the third period, chipping the puck out of a scrum and past Jones to put St....

On Sunday, with his father and mom Kathleen in attendance, the kid from Charlestown, MA — just across the Charles River from the arena — led Boston to a 6-2 win and 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals over the Carolina Hurricanes. Grzelcyk got Boston on the board in the first period as his shot from the left circle trickled past Hurricanes netminder Petr Mrazek. It was his second goal of the playoffs and first goal — and point — since Game 2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second round....

This season will be a unique one filled with twists and turns. Aside from the compact schedule, which will include the first time in league history that teams will play four consecutive games against the same opponent within a regular season, COVID-19 has and will impact things. Divisions have already been realigned based on geographic locations, with one containing just Canadian teams because of a travel ban between the U....

Unlike Manziel, who sat the bench most of this season for the NFL’s Browns, Gaudreau is enjoying a breakout year in Calgary, approaching the All-Star break second among rookie scorers with 13 goals and 32 points. But like Manziel, Gaudreau has wasted little time to make sure he capitalizes on his notoriety, filing a trademark to U.S. and Canadian patent offices for the nickname “Johnny Hockey,” according to TSN....

According to The Athletic, the team has now turned its attention to the trade market in hopes of acquiring a second-line center and a top-six winger. The same report says Buffalo has “kicked tires” on Wild winger Jason Zucker, who is coming off of a 42-point season in Minnesota. Buffalo got off to a great start in 2018-19 as the Sabres had a 17-6-2 record which was spearheaded by a 10-game winning streak....

According to Hockey Night in America, Ottawa is discussing a deal for Toronto’s Nikita Zaitsev. The report states the deal might not happen for a couple of days, but it is being discussed nonetheless. It would appear as well that Cody Ceci would be coming back to the Maple Leafs in return. According to TSN, there is a tentative deal in place, but there may be a couple of pieces added in the coming days....

The All-Star defenseman, who just endured a drama-filled season in Ottawa, has one year remaining on his contract. The Senators will be able to negotiate and offer an extension with Karlsson beginning July 1, but based on the team’s previous efforts to shed payroll — mixed in with the mega money Karlsson is due to make, mixed in with the very obvious tension created through public comments made by both parties this season — a trade seems like it’s in the cards....

Just last night, for example, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson contacted Tallon to see if the Panthers GM had interest in dealing for high-scoring forward Mike Hoffman, whom San Jose had agreed to acquire from Ottawa, though the deal was not yet official. Wilson was willing to flip Hoffman to the Panthers in exchange for draft picks, a much more palatable option for Tallon then the package his Senators counterpart, Pierre Dorion, sought for the high-scoring winger when talking trade with Florida just last week....

The two teams are very familiar with the annual outdoor game, as the Bruins and Penguins are the participating squads in the event. It is the fourth Winter Classic for Boston and the third for Pittsburgh. There will be no shortage of star power at the game, with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on one side against Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak on the other. Here is how fans can watch the 2023 Winter Classic without cable....

“I was really excited because I hadn’t read a script in a long time that showed black people in finance,” Long told Newsweek Conversations about her work on The Banker, a film based on a true story about Joe Morris (played by Samuel L. Jackson) and Bernard Garrett (played by Anthony Mackie), two of the first successful African American investment bankers in the post-Civil Rights era United States. “We need to teach our children and reeducate our children that, we’re here now....

Shearer: Ozil wasn’t up for it against Man United The 21-year-old has featured in every league and Europa League fixture for Lucien Favre’s side this term, scoring five and assisting three more. While the former Lens midfielder is relatively unknown outside of Ligue 1, he is hoping to rise to prominence in a similar fashion to now-France and Chelsea star N’Golo Kante did at Caen and then Leicester. “For N’Golo, it is a meteoric rise and I am appreciative,” Cyprien told Goal....

Arsenal breeze past Lincoln The 22-year-old was withdrawn in the 57th minute of his side’s 2-2 draw with Caen on Friday following a heavy challenge. Nice, who are second in Ligue 1, have now confirmed that scans showed Cyprien has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament. Cyprien is now set to undergo surgery, with Nice stating only that he will miss the remainder of the campaign. The ex-Lens man has been a key performer for Nice in their surprise title challenge as they lie second in the table, five points behind leaders Monaco ahead of third-placed Paris Saint-Germain playing Lorient on Sunday....

But the legal battle over his sentence has now reached an impasse over the issue of paying for his defense. Nichols’s court-appointed lawyers have already spent at least $1.2 million, depleting the budget of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, which oversees the public-defender program (the state currently provides about $40 million annually to the council, and individual Georgia counties furnish another $60 million to $70 million to the total)....