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…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets hope they finally got it right behind their bench.

The club’s third coaching search in four summers ended Monday when former Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason was named the 11th coach in Blue Jackets history. Evason, 59, was signed to a multiyear contract after a lengthy and intense hiring process guided by president and general manager Don Waddell.

“There is a great core and a lot of young talent on this team,” Evason said in a statement. “I am really looking forward to working with this group and helping us become a team that plays extremely hard and competes at the highest level.”

GOT OUR GUY

We’ve named Dean Evason as our new head coach!

We’re thrilled to welcome Dean and his wife Jen to the #CBJ family!

https://t.co/BMpvXKi4yc pic.twitter.com/muZyWKBA47

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) July 22, 2024

Waddell made it clear from the start that he was interested in interviewing only coaches with previous NHL head-coaching experience, so the pool of candidates quickly was whittled to a manageable number. But the last three weeks were filled with interviews and negotiations at a time when the rest of the league mostly settled into offseason mode.

“Dean Evason brings to coaching what he brought as a…

Jessica Campbell was promoted to Seattle Kraken assistant coach Wednesday, making her the first woman to hold that job full-time with an NHL team.

Campbell spent the past two seasons as an assistant under Dan Bylsma with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Seattle’s AHL affiliate, and helped them reach the Calder Cup Final in back-to-back years.

She held a number of different responsibilities with the Firebirds — overseeing the forwards and power play, while also doing skills work on the side.

A former high-level national team player in Canada with a background as a world-class skating coach, Campbell has been credited with helping the development of a number of the organization’s young prospects. The most notable among them is forward Tye Kartye, an undrafted free agent who was named the AHL’s rookie of the year while with the Firebirds in 2023 and graduated to a role with the Kraken this past season.

Campbell joins Emily Engel-Natzke — a video coach for the Washington Capitals — as the only women employed as traveling full-time members of NHL coaching staffs. Other women have been employed in temporary or part-time work by NHL teams or as guest coaches and trainers, but Campbell will be the first on the bench full-time.

Campbell previously became the first woman to be a…

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…

SUNRISE, Fla. — Of course it wasn’t easy.

Nothing ever has been in Paul Maurice’s coaching career.

Thrown to the wolves as an NHL head coach at 28 years old, only making the playoffs with mediocre rosters four times in his first 13 years, his coaching career has been an absolute grind.

So the idea that he finally got his Stanley Cup after his team survived a near-miracle comeback, that is par for the course.

“It’s time, he deserves it,” his wife, Michelle, tears running down her cheeks, said during the Florida Panthers celebration on the ice Monday night. “I was expecting this all day. It wasn’t easy, but what a great, great, great story.

“Let’s do it again next year.”

Well, let’s soak this in first.

A jubilant Maurice, hugging family members and players and anyone he could find from the organization, insisted that this Cup wasn’t about him.

“It’s not me, it’s not me,” Maurice said, the remnants of tears drying in the corner of his eyes. “That leadership in that room is unbelievable. I haven’t been driving this bus for two months. It’s all the players.

“I’m not trying to be humble. It’s why I love it here. I’ve got a small, little piece of this. These men are special guys.”

Maurice was brought in two years ago by Bill Zito. The Panthers…

Daryl Watts signed a two-year deal with PWHL Toronto, the team announced on Friday night.

Watts, 25, was the best player available when free agency opened on Friday at 8 a.m. ET. She played the inaugural season with Ottawa, led the team in goals (10) and finished third in points (17). During her end-of-year media availability, Watts was candid about testing the open market to “see what the best fit would be for next year.”

Watts — a Toronto native — is a highly skilled winger with elite vision and hands and an excellent shot. Last year, much of Toronto’s offense came from Natalie Spooner (20 goals) or Sarah Nurse (11 goals). Watts should give Toronto another dynamic scoring option at the top of the lineup.

Daryl Watts, folks pic.twitter.com/3QPShzTwi3

— Kyle Cushman (@Kyle_Cush) May 6, 2024

“She is an incredible offensive threat that has proven herself in this league,” general manager Gina Kingsbury said in a press release. “We felt adding some offence to our roster was an important piece to the puzzle.”

Toronto makes a lot of sense as a landing spot for Watts, especially when we consider the 2026 Winter Olympics are less than two years away.

Watts has yet to crack the Canadian national women’s team and will now have an opportunity to showcase her game to…

Britta Curl, the ninth overall selection at the 2024 PWHL Draft, has apologized for the “hurt” caused by her social media activity.

Curl, a center from the University of Wisconsin, was chosen by PWHL Minnesota in the second round on Monday night in Saint Paul. Her selection was met with boos at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, and drew criticism online from fans, some of whom threatened to boycott the team.

Curls’ social media activity stirred controversy in the weeks leading up to the draft. Her “likes” on X included posts promoting COVID-19 conspiracy theories, attacking inclusive language toward transgender women, and appearing to show support for Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two people, and wounded a third, during unrest in Kenosha, Wis., in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

On Friday night, Curl released a video on X directly addressing PWHL fans and the controversy surrounding her social media activity.

Dear PWHL fans…
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/srLPAa9b8e

— Britta Curl (@brittacurl) June 15, 2024

“I specifically recognize that my social media activity has resulted in hurt being felt across communities, including LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals, and I just want to apologize and take ownership of that,” Curl said.

She added: “I do not and I’ve never held…

ST. PAUL, Minn. — New York selected Canadian forward Sarah Fillier with the No. 1 pick in the PWHL Draft on Monday night.

Fillier, 24, is widely considered to be the best player in the class of 2024 and was the No. 1 prospect on both editions of The Athletic’s PWHL draft ranking. She has already helped Canada win three world championships — and was named MVP of the tournament in 2023 — and an Olympic gold medal.

Fillier broke out in her freshman year at Princeton in 2018-19 when she led the NCAA with just under two points per game (1.97) as a teenager. At the 2021 World Championships in Calgary, she announced herself as the future of women’s hockey in Canada with her combination of speed, skill and poise with the puck.

Glad your birthday wish came true, Sarah Fillier!

Welcome to @PWHL_NewYork! pic.twitter.com/qLVJ6pAYZG

— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) June 10, 2024

“She’s a once-in-a-decade type player,” said Princeton coach Cara Morey after Fillier made her international debut. “She is a special talent.”

At Princeton, Fillier scored 93 goals and 194 points in 120 games, the third-highest point-per-game rate among players who played in the NCAA over the last six years. She won the 2019 national rookie of the year and was a three-time finalist for the Patty…

PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz is leaving the organization, team sources told The Athletic on Thursday night.

The news comes just eight days after the team won the PWHL’s first-ever Walter Cup championship and four days before Minnesota is set to host the 2024 Draft and first-ever PWHL Awards.

“It’s pretty shocking,” one team source said.

Darwitz, 40, was hired in September 2023 to lead Minnesota — which, like all PWHL teams, is owned by the league — heading into its inaugural season. According to a team source, Darwitz was told earlier this week she would not be back as general manager for the 2024-25 season and was offered alternative options within the league. The league also gave Darwitz the option of putting out a statement saying that she had chosen to move on, the team source said. She is not expected to be at the draft table for Minnesota on Monday night.

The PWHL would not confirm the news of Darwitz’s departure.

Darwitz is synonymous with women’s hockey in Minnesota. She grew up in Eagan, Minn., and won two NCAA championships with the University of Minnesota. She won three Olympic medals with Team USA and was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018. Darwitz was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in May, during Minnesota’s…