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.

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How…

Byron Ritchie jotted out a quick note on his phone and sent off a text to Jarome Iginla, his former Calgary Flames teammate.

Ritchie’s son Ryder was mired in a goal-scoring slump, and Ritchie asked Iginla if he could watch a few of his son’s shifts. “Just see if you’re seeing something different than I am,” Byron asked.

It was one hockey dad asking another for advice, but in truth, less personal versions of this type of exchange are commonplace for Ritchie and Iginla. The two former NHL forwards played together in Calgary for two seasons nearly 20 years ago. They both made their offseason homes in the Okanagan, a picturesque locale in the interior of British Columbia that’s popular among NHL players.

In August 2006, following their first year as teammates in Calgary, Ritchie’s wife, Maria Johansson, and Jarome’s wife, Kara Iginla, both gave birth to sons. Ryder was born on Aug. 3. Tij Iginla arrived the very next day.

Now the two 17-year-olds are top NHL prospects heading into this weekend’s NHL Draft in Las Vegas and working through the pressures of draft eligibility together at RINK Hockey Academy in Kelowna. Jarome Iginla coaches the academy’s U18 team — including his son Joe, who made his WHL debut as a 15-year-old this season — while Byron Ritchie…

By: Eric Duhatschek, Hailey Salvian, Max Bultman and Lukas Weese

On Tuesday, the Hockey Hall of Fame revealed the newest members that will be enshrined among the sport’s legends. Pavel Datsyuk, Shea Weber, Jeremy Roenick, Krissy Wendell-Pohl, Natalie Darwitz, Colin Campbell and David Poile make up the 2024 class to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this November.

Of the seven names, five were players and two were builders. It is the first time since 2010 that two women are being inducted into the same Hockey Hall of Fame class.

Datsyuk played 14 NHL seasons, all with the Detroit Red Wings. During his career, he recorded 314 goals and 604 assists. Nicknamed the “Magic Man,” Datsyuk will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Shea Weber played 16 years in the NHL, 11 with the Nashville Predators and five with the Montreal Canadiens. Playing 1,038 career games, Weber tallied 224 goals and 365 assists. Weber, a two-time first-team All-Star, won two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada in 2010 and 2014 along with world championship gold in 2007.

Jeremy Roenick played for 20 seasons in the NHL and was a member of five different teams. Drafted No. 8 in 1988, Roenick began his career with the Chicago Blackhawks (1988 to 1996), before…

Our NHL style rankings have seen a fair share of players donning hats and blazers, even full suit combos. Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman, who’s in the midst of a career season, has taken it one step further by donning Stetson hats with his outfits. He credits a Calgary-based World of Vici store stylist for his suits.

“I just have a guy here in Calgary that wanted to play a little dress-up this year,” Coleman said.

As for the hats, Coleman got himself hooked after wearing an Open Road Stetson while attending the Academy of Country Music Awards in Dallas last summer. Owning one turned into owning multiple hats. Even Coleman’s wife, Jordan, grabbed some during the Flames’ road stop in Dallas last November. Coleman also received a Stetson as a birthday gift.

“What’s that old expression? Look good, play good, feel good,” Coleman said. “It’s fun to mix it up a little bit. I was pretty simple earlier in my career. Now that I have the luxury to go get some new stuff, I’ve enjoyed it. My wife used to poke fun at my suit game. I think she’s probably the happiest of anybody.”

Coleman now is considered a style rankings regular for The Athletic. He’s been a part of stiff competition with some of the league’s best dressers, including Auston Matthews, Adam…

Longtime hockey analyst and former NHL head coach Barry Melrose has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and is retiring from his television role at ESPN, he announced Tuesday.

“I’ve had over 50 extraordinary years playing, coaching and analyzing the world’s greatest game, hockey. It’s now time to hang up my skates and focus on my health, my family, including my supportive wife Cindy and whatever comes next,” Melrose said in a statement.

“I’m beyond grateful for my hockey career, and to have called ESPN home for almost 30 years. Thanks for the incredible memories and I’ll now be cheering for you from the stands.”

One of the sport’s most recognizable faces, Melrose has worked regularly at ESPN since 1996 after a three-year stint coaching the Los Angeles Kings. For many American hockey fans, the 67-year-old was the face of NHL coverage at the network and at ABC Sports when it was the rights holder.

“I’ve worked with Barry at ESPN for over a quarter century,” John Buccigross, his network colleague, wrote on social media. “Cold beers and hearty laughs in smokey cigar bars. A razor-sharp wit, he was always early and looked like a million bucks. I love him. I’ll miss him.”

In a video produced by ESPN, Wayne Gretzky said Melrose found his “true…

Alec Martinez has known Jonathan Quick for 15 years. The two were roommates on road trips during their days in the American Hockey League in 2008. They lifted the Stanley Cup together as Kings in 2012, when Quick won the Conn Smythe Trophy, and again in 2014, when Martinez scored the Cup-clinching double-overtime goal.

They hadn’t been teammates since the Kings traded Martinez to the Golden Knights in February 2020. That is, until Vegas traded for Quick ahead of Friday’s trade deadline. Martinez said that after the news broke, he got a text message from Quick’s wife, Jaclyn, with a video of Jonathan and Jaclyn’s youngest son, Cashton, jumping up and down chanting “Vegas!”

Martinez smiled and joked in his distinguished sarcastic tone, “Rumor has it Quicky was doing the same thing.”

Quick may not have actually been jumping up and down, but at the end of an emotional 48 hours, in which he was traded by the only NHL franchise he’d ever known, he was excited to join a playoff contender that was close to home. After 16 seasons in Los Angeles, changing teams wasn’t easy.

“There were a ton of emotions, obviously, considering how much time my family and I spent there,” Quick said Friday after his first practice in Las Vegas. “At the end of the day, they made a…

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…