The winding Trans-Canada Highway took on one of its most stunning stretches through British Columbia and Tyson Barrie’s head kept moving.

The 13-year NHL veteran would glance out the window of his SUV at sprawling mountains, then look to his right at his six-year-old Aussiedoodle named Ralph, sitting in the passenger seat. Midway through a 14-hour drive, the world of chartered flights felt far away.

At one end of the drive, his home on Vancouver Island including his wife Emma, his three-year-old son and his new daughter, not even a month old.

On the other, uncertainty: His final destination was an AirBnb in Calgary.

Barrie was once considered one of the NHL’s pre-eminent offensive defencemen. Between 2013 and 2019, his 73 goals were the 10th-highest among blueliners. His last contract, signed with the Edmonton Oilers, was worth $13.5 million over three years. Yet when that contract ended, Barrie was 32 and had been traded to the Nashville Predators. He was a free agent waiting for contract offers from other NHL teams.

The only call he got around free agency was an offer from the Calgary Flames. Not with the security of one last lengthy deal, but with three letters Barrie was not accustomed to: PTO.

A “Professional Tryout” is just that: An offer from a team to come to…

Last month, the Hockey Hall of Fame unveiled its class of 2024, which consisted of five players — three in the male player category, two in the female player category — and two builders. Two of the male players, Pavel Datsyuk and Shea Weber, went in during their first year of eligibility. Jeremy Roenick had been eligible since 2012, or three years after he played his last official game as a professional with the 2008-09 San Jose Sharks. That’s a distinction that’s unique to the HHOF, because it takes into account players who continue to play professionally around the world, even after their NHL careers conclude.

So, for example, Datsyuk played five years in Russia after leaving the Detroit Red Wings following the 2015-16 season, which is why he wasn’t eligible for selection until this year. Jaromir Jagr, the NHL’s second all-time leading scorer, hasn’t played a game in the NHL since 2017-18, but he continues to play a handful of games every year for Kladno, the team he owns in Czechia. If Jagr finally stops playing this year, he’ll become eligible in 2027 — and he’ll be about as sure a thing as there is to a guaranteed first-ballot inductee.

That’s the thing about Hall of Fame debates. They generally aren’t too controversial at the top end.

GO DEEPER

How…

RALEIGH, N.C. — As tributes poured in last month when legendary broadcaster Bob Cole died, Mike Guentzel googled “Hockey Night in Canada 2017 playoffs” to relive the soundtrack of a playoff in which his son Jake, then a quiet, wide-eyed rookie, had a postseason run for the ages.

In helping lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a second consecutive Stanley Cup, Guentzel became the first rookie in NHL history to lead the postseason in goal scoring with 13. He came within one goal of matching Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli’s rookie NHL record set in 1981 and tied for the most postseason points in history by a rookie with 21.

Cole called many of those goals.

“It was just amazing to hear Bob Cole talking about my son and the excitement in his voice,” said Mike Guentzel, a former longtime college and junior coach and now a pro scout with the new NHL Utah franchise after coming over from Arizona. “You forget about those memories and what happened, but it was cool to reminisce back to that and to hear Bob Cole talking about Jake. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’”

That playoff run, after scoring 16 goals and 33 points in a 40-game regular season, turned out to be a family affair for Mike and his wife, Sally, and their two other sons, Gabe, who’s now 36 and a father of…

Paul Stastny knew people were going to figure it out eventually.

But he didn’t see the point in making a big deal of it.

And so when I reached out this week to see how he was doing, curious whether he was talking to teams about one last run, I got a completely different answer.

“I haven’t filed anything, but in early September we decided we were done,” Stastny said.

After putting up 822 points in 1,145 career regular-season games over 17 NHL seasons, the 37-year-old forward has called it quits.

Without much fanfare.

“I didn’t put anything out on social media or anything,” Stastny said with a chuckle. “I kind of came into the league quietly and I’m leaving the league quietly. That’s the way I like it.

“All the people close to me know, and then word always gets out eventually.”

Well, we all know now.

Stastny said he had some calls from teams this summer but wanted to wait and see how he felt.

“I wanted to take all the emotions out of it,” he said. “The summer got further along, and I got on the ice a few times … I wouldn’t say the spark wasn’t there — I still love the game — but I think I was just ready to move forward to the next chapter.

“When you know, you know.”

Stastny and his wife and two kids, aged 8 and 6, are currently at their home in…

If you have questions about the future of your team’s live games on your local cable, satellite or digital provider, particularly those on Bally Sports channels, we’re here to answer with what we know so far.

Diamond Sports Group, the Baltimore-based corporate parent of the 19 Bally Sports channels that air 47 NBA, MLB, NHL and WNBA teams, announced Feb. 15 that it would skip a $140 million debt payment due that day and use the month-long grace period as part of its effort to financially reorganize itself.

Many observers interpret the move as a precursor to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, though that is not a certainty. Diamond has $8 billion-plus of debt, incurred as part of parent Sinclair’s 2019 purchase of the regional sports channels, and lost $1.2 billion in the most recent fiscal quarter.

“Certainly more likely that they will file bankruptcy because they did not make the payment,” said Schuyler Carroll, a bankruptcy attorney who is not connected to Diamond. “But not necessarily that they will file bankruptcy. They are still continuing discussions with their creditors to try and avoid bankruptcy. But those can often be difficult.”

Diamond in a Feb. 15 statement said it “intends to use the 30-day grace period to continue progressing its ongoing…

Before the hockey world descended on Sunrise, Fla., for NHL All-Star Weekend, players used the weeks leading up to celebrate women in sports, local high schools and apparently their deep-seated love for plaid suits. Fashion traditions were turned on their heads, while vintage looks from a decade ago were brought back to life.

Players having great seasons ahead of the season’s halfway mark reminded everyone that you can wear what you want, shamelessly, when you’re performing on the ice. Additionally, one star re-emerged with a dazzling blue suit and made a case for being the best-dressed player in the game. He had some incredible competition from two different teams who used their platforms to highlight those in their respective community.

Which athletes made a lasting impression before the All-Stars converged on the Sunshine State?

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Wow, that scarf in the first photo is taking me all the way back to middle school and early high school in the late 2000s and early 2010s. This is a serious (and funny) flashback to what was stylish during my teenage years. Of the two looks, I’ll admit that, nostalgia aside, I prefer the all-brown suit and turtleneck ensemble by the Calgary Flames…