NHL Metropolitan

The Winter Classic is headed to Florida for the first time in NHL history.

The New York Rangers and Florida Panthers are set to face off in the 2026 event at the Miami Marlins' LoanDepot Park.

The NHL has previously played outdoor games in locations including Los Angeles, Dallas and Nashville, but the upcoming Winter Classic will mark the southernmost outdoor game in league history.

The contest will also mark the first time the Panthers have played in an outdoor game.

The Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) is set to be the only NHL club without an outdoor game on its record. The Columbus Blue Jackets are slated to compete outdoors for the first time in March during a Stadium Series matchup with the Detroit Red Wings at Ohio Stadium.

Meanwhile, the Rangers will be playing in the franchise's sixth outdoor contest, tying the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers for the second-most in NHL history.

The Rangers most recently competed outside in February 2024, when the Blueshirts claimed a 6-5 overtime win over the New York Islanders at MetLife Stadium.

The Chicago Blackhawks, who played the St. Louis Blues during the 2025 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, hold the all-time NHL lead with seven outdoor games.

The NHL will now hope to hold a game between two playoff competitors when the Panthers and Rangers take the ice next season.

The Rangers have struggled early in the 2024-25 campaign but are looking to bounce back behind star goaltender Igor Shesterkin and 2021 Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox alongside scorers like Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Mika Zibanejad.

The Panthers, who landed their first outdoor game after defeating Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, are set to bring back key members of their championship team including Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky next season.

The first Winter Classic took place in 2008 between the Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. The Panthers and Rangers will be playing in the 17th edition of the event.

The Vancouver Canucks reportedly turned down an offer from the New York Rangers to trade Mika Zibanejad for J.T. Miller earlier this season, according to The Athletic's Josh Yohe.

Both Miller and Zibanejad hold a no-move clauses. Even if the Canucks had pursued the trade, both players would have had to agree to the swap.

Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos did recently report he believes Miller would be willing to waive his no-move clause in order to go to the Rangers.

Despite a goalscoring slump Miller is having the more productive season of the pair, with 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists) in 29 contests. Zibanejad has meanwhile recorded 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) while skating in ten more games.

Rangers general manager Chris Drury has been open about his willingness to trade core players this season. Drury went so far as to send a memo to all 31 teams advertising the availability of roster members in November, as reported by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman and confirmed by multiple sources.

The Rangers have since traded captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks and forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken.

Those deals have yet to spark a resurgence for a team that went into the season expecting to be a playoff contender. The Rangers headed into the New Year outside of the playoff bubble and trailing only the Buffalo Sabres for the most regulation losses (20) in the Eastern Conference.

The Canucks are looking for a deadline shakeup of their own, according to Friedman. The NHL insider recently said on an episode of The FAN Hockey Show that tension between Miller and Canucks forward Elias Pettersson "has begun to spill over elsewhere into the organization."

Pettersson does not have a no-trade clause, although his contract will present a challenge should the Canucks decide to turn to a trade to resolve the reported split. The forward is in the first year of an eight-year, $92.8 million deal that has him set to remain on the books through the 2031-32 season.

The Canucks and Rangers both made it to the second round last season, with the Rangers getting as far as the Eastern Conference Final. Given that neither team currently looks on track for a deeper run, there's still a chance they could look to shake things up by moving Miller or Zibanejad before the March 7 trade deadline.

The New York Rangers will be without their goaltender for a bit of time after an injury.

Per The Athletic's Arthur Staple, the Rangers are placing Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury. With Shesterkin landing on the IR, the team announced that it has recalled goaltender Louis Domingue from the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Shesterkin, 29, is coming off a season in which he posted a 36-17 record behind 1,467 saves and a .913 save percentage. Another strong season from Shesterkin helped lead the Rangers to the conference finals, where they fell to the eventual champion Florida Panthers.

Earlier this month, after several months of negotiation, the Rangers made Shesterkin the highest-paid goalie in NHL history when they gave him an eight-year, $92 million contract. The deal passed Montreal Canadiens great Carey Price's previous record.

Before the new contract, Shesterkin was on a four-year deal with an AAV of $5.66 million and would have been an unrestricted free agent after the season.

With the ink still drying on his lucrative contract, the Rangers will have to go at least a week without their star goalie.

Shesterkin, in his sixth season, has an 11-15 record this year, posting a .906 save percentage with 751 saves. In Shesterkin's absence, veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick will likely see the bulk of the action in front of the net. Quick has made 12 appearances and nine starts this year, recording a .907 save percentage on his way to a 5-4 record.

New York has struggled in the season following its conference finals appearance, sitting in last place in the Metropolitan Division at 16-19-1 through 36 games.

Madeline Gaudreau, the widow of Matthew Gaudreau, gave birth to their son, she announced on Instagram on Sunday.

The birth of their son, Tripp, comes four months after Matthew Gaudreau and his brother, Johnny, of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, were tragically killed after a vehicle hit them while they were riding their bikes in Oldmans Township, New Jersey, in August.

In December, the driver of the vehicle was charged by a grand jury with two counts of reckless vehicular homicide, two counts of aggravated manslaughter, tampering with physical evidence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, per CNN's Jacob Lev.

Matthew was 29 and Johnny was 31.

"The National Hockey League family is shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement in August. "While Johnny's infectious spirit for the game and show-stopping skills on the ice earned him the nickname 'Johnny Hockey,' he was more than just a dazzling hockey player; he was a doting father and beloved husband, son, brother and teammate who endeared himself to every person fortunate enough to have crossed his path."

Matthew played professional hockey in the ECHL, spending four years with the Worcester Railers and one season with the Reading Royals. Johnny played 11 seasons in the NHL for the Calgary Flames and the Blue Jackets. He scored 743 points across his career, collecting a career-high 115 during the 2021-22 season.

Alex Ovechkin is set to return to game action just 40 days after fracturing his left leg.

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery announced that Ovechkin will play in the Caps' road game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Ovechkin returned to full practice on Friday, per NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.

Carbery later said the team would determine Ovechkin's availability depending on how his leg reacted to the practice.

Ovechkin is now set to rejoin Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas on the Capitals' top line, while slotting in alongside Strome, John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun and Tom Wilson on the club's top power-play unit.

Ovechkin has missed 16 games since suffering a fractured left fibula after a leg-on-leg collision during a Nov. 18 game against the Utah Hockey Club.

The stretch marked one of the longest injury absences of his career. Prior to the fracture Ovechkin had missed just 35 games due to injury, and 59 games total, through the first 19 seasons of his NHL career.

The Capitals have historically struggled with their captain sidelined, with the franchise having marked a 26-28-5 record without Ovechkin prior to the season.

This time around, offseason additions including Strome and Chychrun helped the Caps stay at the top of the Metropolitan Division with a 10-5-1 mark in Ovechkin's absence.

The return of Ovechkin, who had 15 goals and 25 points in 18 games to start the season, will make the Capitals a legitimate challenger to beat out top teams including the New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs in the race to the top of the East.

His comeback also marks the resumption of his bid to beat out Wayne Gretzky for the NHL goalscoring record. Gretzky currently holds the all-time title after scoring 894 times between 1979 and 1999.

Ovechkin had scored twice against Utah before suffering his injury, bringing his career total to 868 goals. He sits 26 tallies shy of Gretzky's record with 48 games remaining in the Capitals' season heading into Saturday.

New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe has been suspended for eight games after both boarding and elbowing the Dallas Star' Miro Heiskanen during the third period of Friday's 3-1 Rangers win.

Rempe had a hearing with the NHL's department of player safety over Zoom on Sunday.

The NHL Department of Player Safety said Rempe's hit "violated multiple NHL rules," though he can appeal the suspension to both NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and a neutral arbitrator. If upheld, he'll forfeit around $80,000 worth of game checks.

"Rempe explodes upwards into a hard check into a defenseless Heiskanen while at the same time extending his elbow and forearm up and into the back of Heiskanen's neck, driving Heiskanen dangerously into the boards and glass," the department noted.

Rempe was considered a repeat offender, having been suspended four games last season after elbowing Jonas Siegenthaler of the New Jersey Devils last season, and the NHL Department of Player Safety added in its ruling that "players who repeatedly violate league playing rules shall be more severely punished for each new violation."

It was his fourth ejection in 22 career games in the NHL.

He was hit with a major penalty and game misconduct for elbowing during Friday's game, leaving the Rangers with a five-minute power play to kill.

"I thought he led off a little bit at the end. He's just such a big guy," Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters on Friday. "We killed the five, and we're moving on."

The Stars weren't so quick to brush off the hit, as a scuffle broke out on the ice, with Roope Hintz immediately standing up for his teammate.

"First, I wasn't sure did he get hurt or not, and then I saw that he was right there laying on the ice bleeding," Hintz told reporters. "Dirty, [from] behind, and he's obviously a big guy, so, yeah, just tried to go out there and do something."

After Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer accused the New York Rangers of tampering due to reports of targeting Senators captain Brady Tkachuk in a trade, the Rangers are firing back.

"This is an irresponsible accusation and we defer to the Commissioner's office," the Rangers said in a statement on Monday, per hockey insider Frank Seravalli.

Hockey Hall of Fame columnist Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported last week that the Rangers "have been in trade talks with multiple teams" and made Tkachuk "their primary target." While he didn't mention the Rangers specifically, it was clear that Andlauer didn't take kindly to the report while speaking to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

"Here's my frustration: I talk about how I care for these players, and I care for their families — you make a commitment to a team for six, seven years, you set roots in the community, you're part of this community, there's a lot of pressure on these young men," Andlauer said of Tkachuk. "Yes, people might say they make millions of dollars, but the reality is there comes a responsibility with that.

"And when I see our captain, in the one year I've been here (as Senators owner), there's been three separate occasions where there's been fires we had to put out. I can tell you 100 percent there's never actually been an ounce of discussion about Brady Tkachuk being anything other than an Ottawa Senator."

Andlauer added that he believes either Brooks reported false information, "Or he's being fed false information and if indeed he's being fed false information, or people are giving this information from another NHL organization, I don't know — we just had a big memo about tampering from the NHL. I might consider that soft tampering."

Tkachuk has 13 goals and 16 assists in 27 games this season, so he would undoubtedly be an upgrade for the Rangers amid their inconsistent 14-11-1 start. However, it sounds like the Senators have closed the door on trading their 25-year-old captain, so the Rangers will have to explore other potential improvements as they try to make their fourth straight run to the playoffs.

Former New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba told reporters it was "a rite of passage" to be traded on Friday to the Anaheim Ducks.

"It's a rite of passage to get fired from MSG," Trouba said, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

The Rangers traded Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks in a deal that cleared up cap space to sign star goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a record-breaking extension.

Trouba, who had already been scratched from Friday night's home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the trade, said he believed the team mishandled the transaction.

"My opinion is things could have been handled better. Not blaming anybody or anything, just kind of how it happened I felt was kind of an unfortunate ending to a lot of good times in New York," Trouba said, per Sportsnet.

Trouba had a 15-team no-trade clause on his contract, which he had reportedly used to block trades to the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets.

He confirmed to reporters on Friday that the Rangers had told him he would be waived if he did not agree to a trade.

"It was a threat," Trouba said, per Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

Trouba did not want to leave New York in part because his wife, Dr. Kelly Tyson-Trouba, is completing a residency at an area hospital, according to the New York Post's Larry Brooks.

However, Trouba told reporters on Friday that Anaheim "was one of the places my wife and I were interested in."

Trouba's effectiveness on defense has decreased over the last three seasons, capped off by his struggles during the 2024 postseason.

The trade meant the Rangers could re-sign Shesterkin and shake up the roster after the team's 13-10-1 start to the season, while Trouba will get a fresh start on the West Coast.

The New York Rangers are reportedly set to sign Igor Shesterkin to the largest goaltending contract in NHL history.

The Rangers and Shesterkin have agreed to an eight-year, $92 million deal worth $11.5 million per year, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Shesterkin will be the first goaltender to earn more than $10.5 million per year. The reported extension eclipses the eight-year, $84 million deal Carey Price inked with the Montreal Canadiens in 2017.

The news caps off a busy Friday for the Rangers, who reportedly traded captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks hours earlier.

The Ducks took on the entirety of Trouba's $8 million cap hit for the next two seasons as part of the trade.

The Rangers, who received defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and his $1.1 million cap hit in return, cleared almost $7 million in cap space with the trade.

The additional room under the cap may have allowed the Rangers to up their offer from the eight-year, $88 million deal that Shesterkin reportedly rejected ahead of the 2024-25 season, according to ESPN's Kevin Weekes.

Shesterkin, who will turn 29 later this month, is in his sixth season with the Rangers and his fourth as the franchise's starting netminder.

Beginning with his 2021-22 Vezina Trophy campaign, Shesterkin has established himself as one of the best goaltenders in the NHL over the last three seasons. He has marked a .921 save percentage, 2.39 goals against average and 109-43-14 regular-season record over that span.

Those numbers have dipped amid the Rangers' struggles to start the 2024-25 campaign. Shesterkin has so far recorded a 3.05 GAA and .908 save percentage while claiming just eight wins in 18 starts.

His stats haven't been helped by the Rangers' defense, which ranks 31st in the NHL with 32.8 shots allowed through 24 games.

Shesterkin's deal is a vote of confidence that he can return to Vezina caliber numbers and backstop the team to Stanley Cup contention while playing behind a stronger defense.

The extension also means the Rangers have five players signed through the 2028-29 season with Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafrenière and Adam Fox joining Shesterkin as long-term locks in New York.

The New York Rangers are trading captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks.

The New York Post's Larry Brooks and The Athletic's Arthur Staple first reported the news.

The Rangers received defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional 2025 fourth-round draft pick in return, per Friedman and The Athletic's Chris Johnston.

The Ducks are taking on the entirety of Trouba's $8 million salary for the next two seasons, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Vaakanainen is owed $1.1 million this season and is set to hit unrestricted free agency next spring. The Rangers were left with $5.9 million in projected cap space following the trade, per PuckPedia.

Trouba was named the Rangers' captain ahead of the 2022-23 campaign. He was skating a career-low 20 minutes per game this season amid the teams' 13-10-1 start.

He played fewer than 17 minutes per night in each of his final two Rangers games, and the New York Post's Mollie Walker reported that the team planned to bench him entirely for Friday's home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Per Walker, the Rangers told Trouba that he would be waived if he did not accept a trade.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski reported earlier on Friday that the Rangers had "presented Trouba with several trade options for his approval," while ESPN's Emily Kaplan wrote that the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets had spoken with the Rangers about Trouba.

Trouba had a 15-team no-trade clause on his contract, which The Athletic's Aaron Portzline reported he used to block a potential trade to the Blue Jackets.

The Red Wings were meanwhile "very interested" in Trouba but were "unable to come to trade terms" with the Rangers, Kaplan reported.

Kaplan had previously reported in July that the Rangers had a deal "in the works" with the Red Wings this summer, but that Trouba blocked the trade.

The Rangers have reportedly been shopping Trouba at least since he struggled to provide consistent defense for the team during the 2024 postseason, during which he later told reporters he had been skating on a broken ankle.

USA Today's Vincent Z. Mercogliano reported in July that Trouba "does not want to move his family" from New York. His wife, Dr. Kelly Tyson-Trouba, is completing a residency at a New York hospital through July 2025, per Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Since his trade from the Winnipeg Jets in June 2019, Trouba has been one of the Rangers' leading hitters and shot blockers through 364 regular-season games. He finishes his New York career with 136 points (31 goals, 105 assists) in the regular season and 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 46 playoff appearances.

Vaakanainen has played just five games this season while dealing with an upper-body injury. He has not skated since Nov. 13 and was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday. The 25-year-old was one of the Ducks' top penalty killers last season and could slot in on the Rangers' PK when healthy.

For now, the Rangers will focus on recovering from a disappointing season start. After two Eastern Conference Finals losses in the last three seasons, the Rangers could be hoping trading their captain will be the push this franchise needs to contend for a title in 2025.