NHL Central

Wednesday night at TD Garden in Boston will be one Connor Bedard never forgets.

The Chicago Blackhawks rookie scored his first NHL goal against the Boston Bruins at 5:37 of the first period to give his team an early 1-0 lead.

It comes after the 2023 No. 1 overall pick notched his first NHL point with an assist in Chicago's season opening 4-2 comeback victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Bedard's goal, understandably, sent NHL fans into a frenzy:

Bedard is the NHL's most-hyped rookie since Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid, and he's already living up to expectations through his first two games. Luckily for the Blackhawks, it certainly seems that they've found their next franchise star following the departures of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

While Bedard has a long way to go, this is only just the beginning of what should be a historic career.

The future has arrived for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago opened its season with a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Tuesday's showdown at PPG Paints Arena. All eyes were on Connor Bedard, and the rookie center delivered with the first of many points to come while helping lead the visitors to a comeback win.

The title of season-opening hero went elsewhere for the Blackhawks, though, as Jason Dickinson buried the game-winning goal in the final five minutes. It was the third of four straight unanswered goals for Chicago after it fell into an early hole.

While Dickinson, Ryan Donato, Cole Guttman and Nick Foligno scored the goals, the biggest storyline was the debut of Bedard.

It was fitting that the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NHL draft played his first game against Sidney Crosby. After all, past No. 1 picks such as Crosby and Connor McDavid represent the blueprint that Bedard is expected to follow as a franchise savior and generational talent who can lead Chicago back into Stanley Cup contention.

He looked the part of a building block by firing shots, creating offensive opportunities and even cashing with an assist, which drew plenty of praise from social media:

The symbolism was almost too obvious when Bedard and Crosby went head-to-head in the opening moment, but the veteran showed he wasn't ready to pass the torch just yet by winning the faceoff.

That was far from his biggest contribution, as the future Hall of Famer extended Pittsburgh's lead to 2-0 with a second-period goal after Bryan Rust started the scoring in the first.

Yet the 18-year-old had an answer with the first point of his career, which came late in the second period from an assist on Donato's goal. The assist gave the visitors some much-needed momentum, which only increased as Guttman scored the equalizer before Dickinson and Foligno put the finishing touches on the win.

Chicago will be right back at it Wednesday when it takes on the Boston Bruins in the second of five straight road games to start the season, so building early momentum like this could help set the tone of Bedard's rookie campaign.

The Winnipeg Jets are wrapping up their offseason in a big way.

With just one day remaining until the NHL's opening night, the organization locked down both goalie Connor Hellebuyck and centre Mark Scheifele to multiyear deals Monday, ensuring their futures north of the border, according to an announcement by Jets.

Hellebuyck and Scheifele signed identical seven-year deals worth $8.5 million per season. Both players were set to become unrestricted free agents after this year.

Both Hellebuyck and Scheifele have been key to one of the most successful periods in franchise history for Winnipeg over the last few years, including the Jets' run to the conference finals back in 2018.

The pair were set to be two of the biggest free agents to hit the market next summer. Now, they'll be staying put throughout the rest of the decade.

With their new contracts, Hellebuyck and Scheifele each got a raise of about $2.44 million over their previous deals and will be 38 years old when their contracts expire.

Scheifele, 30, is the team's alternate captain and was once again a staple for the Jets last season, finishing third on the team with 68 points in 81 games, trailing only Kyle Connor and John Morrissey, respectively.

As for Hellebuyck, he continued being his consistently productive self, making his third All-Star team and ending the season with a .920 save percentage and 37 wins, both top-five marks in the NHL.

Marcus Foligno is set to become the eighth player in NHL history to spend 10 seasons with the Minnesota Wild.

The right winger signed a four-year, $16-million contract extension that runs through the 2027-28 season, the team announced Friday.

The extension includes a full no-move clause for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, per CapFriendly.

Foligno, who turned 32 in August, was also granted a 15-team no-trade list on the final two years of the extension.

The news of his extension continued a day of contract news for the Wild. The team announced earlier on Friday a two-year, $8.25 million extension for first-line right winger Mats Zuccarello.

Foligno, who spent his first six NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, has skated for the Wild since 2017 and was named alternate captain in 2021. He leads the team over the past six seasons with 1,159 hits and 415 penalty minutes.

Foligno finished top-10 in Selke Trophy voting for the first time in his career in 2021-22 while recording a career-high 23 goals and 42 points.

Those totals were recorded on a likely unsustainable 23.5 percent shooting rate, however. Foligno's production dropped on the Wild's third line last season, when he scored just seven goals and 21 points in his lowest production totals since his 2018-19 campaign.

He nonetheless remained defensively solid. If last season was seen as an off year, the Wild could potentially be anticipating Foligno's offensive rebound this fall.

If Foligno remains with the Wild through the end of his extension, he will join former players Nick Schultz, Nate Prosser, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Matt Dumba on the list of the franchise's 10-season veterans.

Only active Wild leaders Jonas Brodin (11 seasons) and Jared Spurgeon (13 seasons), as well as franchise legend Mikko Koivu (15 seasons), have played more.

Foligno ranks third all-time in Wild franchise history with 415 penalty minutes.

EA Sports is gearing up for the launch of its NHL 24 video game, and after it announced Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar as the cover athlete for this year's iteration of the game, the official gameplay trailer has finally dropped.

The trailer takes a deep dive into some of the new aspects of the game, including cross-play, a sustained pressure system, goalie fatigue, vision passing system, human goalie controls and instinct system.

The biggest change to this year's game is the exhaust engine, which was implemented to emulate real NHL shifts.

NHL 24 promises to be one of the better versions of the series, and the game is available now for preorder on Playstation and Xbox prior to its official release on Oct. 6 just before the start of the 2023-24 NHL regular season.

André Tourigny has agreed to a new contract with the Arizona Coyotes.

General manager Bill Armstrong announced on Wednesday they have signed Tourigny to a three-year extension.

"We are very pleased to sign André to a three-year extension," said Armstrong. "He is an excellent coach, leader and communicator who has helped us establish a tremendous culture in our dressing room. Our players like him, respect him and compete hard for him. We are thrilled to have him signed as our head coach for the next three years."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tourigny also issued a statement in the release about extending his stay with the Coyotes:

"I'm very grateful to have the trust of Mr. Meruelo, Bill and Xavier. The structure put in place by our management has energized our team. I'm also very fortunate to have such a quality coaching staff to work with. It is a pleasure and a privilege to work with them every day. In addition, our high performance, development, medical and equipment staff do an excellent job of taking care of our players. That is the best environment that you can dream of having.

"I feel very lucky to work with our group of players as well. The hard work and commitment to the team they have demonstrated the past two years has established the foundation of our culture. It's an exciting time to be part of the Coyotes. My family and I love the Valley and we are thrilled to be committed long term in Arizona."

The Coyotes originally hired Tourigny in July 2021. It was his first time as a head coach in the NHL, but he had 15 years of experience in the role during his time in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (2002 to '13 and 2016-17) and Ontario Hockey League (2017 to '20).

Tourigny took over a team that made just one playoff appearance in nine seasons prior to his hiring.

The Coyotes have improved in each of Tourigny's first two seasons. Their 28 wins and 70 points last season were their most since 2019-20 (33 wins and 74 points).

While the franchise is still chasing its first playoff berth since the 2019-20 season, Tourigny has been at the center of Arizona's rebuild that has developed a young core of Clayton Keller, Matias Maccelli, Barrett Hayton, Nick Schmaltz and Lawson Crouse.

Those five players were the Coyotes' top five point-scorers last season and they are all 27 years old or younger.

Tourigny's original contract was set to expire after the upcoming season. He is now under contract to the Coyotes through the 2026-27 season.

Longtime Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews announced Thursday he is not retiring but is also not ready to hit the ice in the immediate future.

"I'd like to announce that I am not fully retiring, but I am taking time away from the game again this season," he wrote on Instagram. "I cannot deny my love for the game of hockey and still feel the passion for competing at my highest level."

He provided more details:

"However, these last few seasons have been very difficult considering my health challenges. My focus is to give myself the time and space to fully heal and enjoy life to the fullest once again. Along the way I have met several people who have struggled with health issues pertaining to long COVID, chronic immune response syndrome, and other similar cases that are quite complex. I now recognize the importance of one day sharing the details of my health journey with you all.

"Thank you to all of you who have supported me and respected my privacy in the process."

That he will not be playing in the near future comes as little surprise as his status with the Blackhawks was put into question with the hiring of Kyle Davidson as general manager in 2021-22.

Davidson made it clear that Chicago was going to enter a full-scale rebuild, and with Toews' contract expiring after the 2022-23 season, it was unlikely the franchise was going to re-sign him.

Davidson confirmed on April 13 that the franchise would not be re-signing the 35-year-old forward this summer.

Toews also told reporters at the time that the "thought of playing for another team right now is so far in the back of my mind," so it was unclear whether he would want to continue playing elsewhere.

"I always thought I'd retire a Blackhawk and part of me still believes in that, so we'll see," he said.

The Blackhawks selected Toews third overall in the 2006 draft, and he made his NHL debut during the 2007-08 season. In 1,067 games with Chicago across 15 seasons, he notched 372 goals and 511 assists for 883 points.

Additionally, Toews captained the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups, won the 2009-10 Conn Smythe Trophy, 2012-13 Frank J. Selke Trophy and 2014-15 Mark Messier Leadership Award.

However, he has regressed over the latter stages of his career and even missed the entire 2020-21 season with chronic immune response syndrome.

He also missed part of the 2022-23 campaign with symptoms of long COVID and chronic immune response syndrome, appearing in just 53 games.

Toews will go down as one of the best players in Chicago's history regardless of his next step, and there's little doubt his No. 19 will one day be hanging in the rafters of the United Center.

It hasn't taken long for Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar to establish himself as one of the best players in the NHL, and now he will be immortalized on the cover of the league's flagship video game.

EA Sports announced on Monday that Makar will be the cover athlete of NHL 24. The official full reveal is set for Wednesday, Aug. 16.

The fourth overall pick in the 2017 draft by Colorado, Makar made his NHL debut during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs and quickly made history when he became the first defenseman ever to score a playoff goal in his NHL debut. It was clear from that point that the Avalanche had a special player.

Makar won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year following the 2019-20 season. The following year, he finished second in the voting for the James Norris Memorial Trophy as best defenseman in the league. Colorado rewarded him with a six-year, $54 million extension prior to the 2021-22 campaign, and he immediately proved why he was worthy of that commitment.

Makar recorded a career-high 86 points that year, with his 28 goals being the most for an NHL defenseman since the 2016-17 season. He broke through to win the Norris Trophy that year after helping lead the Avalanche to the best record in the Western Conference.

Colorado went on to defeat the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals to win their third championship in franchise history. Makar was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the postseason after recording a team-high 29 points, the fourth-most for a defenseman in a single playoffs in NHL history.

Credit the Arizona Coyotes for attempting to drum up interest as they look to build a new arena.

In a statement announcing they have executed a letter of intent to purchase a parcel of land in Mesa, Arizona, the Coyotes referred to Logan Cooley as the "top prospect in the world" as a reason their fans are excited about the 2023-24 season.

While it's a shrewd piece of copywriting, it's also amusing since Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL draft to the Chicago Blackhawks, has been touted as one of the best prospects in the history of the sport.

The buzz around Bedard has been loud for years. He spent the past three seasons with the Regina Pats in the Canadian Hockey League. The British Columbia native finished the 2022-23 campaign with 143 points (71 goals, 72 assists) in just 57 games.

Bedard was the first player in CHL history to win the league's top prospect, top scorer and Player of the Year awards in the same season.

Cliff Mander, a Vancouver-based marketing executive for CKM Sports Management, told Andrew Benson of GlobalNews.ca in February that Bedard's value to the Western Hockey League was around $1.5 million because of the sellout crowds the Pats were drawing for road games.

Cooley's certainly not a bad prospect. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 draft and signed his rookie contract on July 27 after leading the University of Minnesota in goals (22), assists (38) and points (60) as a freshman last season.

ESPN.com ranked Cooley as the second-best North American prospect in his draft class.

Adding a 19-year-old forward who has shown a knack for being an impactful scorer is good news for the Coyotes. They need some positive buzz right now as they prepare to play their second season at Mullett Arena on Arizona State's campus after the Glendale city council opted not to renew their arena lease.

The Coyotes have a lot invested in Cooley becoming a star player. They have just one playoff appearance and haven't finished higher than fourth in the division standings in the past 11 seasons.