NHL Atlantic

Veteran winger Milan Lucic is returning to the Boston Bruins, with TSN's Pierre LeBrun reporting Saturday he agreed to a one-year, $1 million deal with the team.

Lucic began his NHL career in Boston and spent eight seasons with the team. He's coming off a four-year run with the Calgary Flames.

The 35-year-old finished with fewer than 20 points for the first time in his career in 2022-23. He scored seven goals and assisted on 12 more.

That continued a prolonged trend as Lucic last hit 30-plus points in 2017-18. ESPN's Greg Wyshynski was blunt when he described the 2011 Stanley Cup winner as "an average defender and a below-average offensive player whose physicality could be what keeps him in the league."

But the Boston Globe's Matt Porter laid out Thursday why a reunion made sense for the Bruins. Lucic's experience could be invaluable depending if David Krejčí and Patrice Bergeron both retire, and he has remained durable, missing just seven games across his entire Flames tenure.

Fans in Boston will be happy to see Lucic back as well.

Trading Taylor Hall to the Chicago Blackhawks was a sign of how limited the Bruins were financially this offseason with Tyler Bertuzzi hitting free agency. They had to offload Hall's $6 million salary cap hit to have any realistic hope of retaining Bertuzzi, and his return is far from assured.

General manager Don Sweeney can't take many big swings this offseason, so a short-term, low-cost pact with Lucic makes a lot of sense.

The Philadelphia Flyers' teardown continues with James van Riemsdyk.

Van Riemsdyk agreed to a one-year, $1 million contract with the Boston Bruins in free agency after five seasons with the Flyers, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.

With the Flyers entering a full-scale rebuild, van Riemsdyk's departure this summer was more than expected, especially as the franchise was shopping him around the 2022-23 season's trade deadline.

The 34-year-old had a solid five seasons in Philadelphia, though his production has declined every year since he joined the team in 2018-19 and re-signing him this offseason wasn't worth it for Daniel Briere.

In 61 games during the 2022-23 season, van Riemsdyk tallied 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points. It was his lowest point total since he tallied 29 points in 40 games during the 2015-16 campaign.

The Flyers selected van Riemsdyk second overall in the 2007 draft and he spent three seasons with the franchise from 2009-12 before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of the 2012-13 season.

In eight total seasons with the Flyers, van Riemsdyk tallied 146 goals and 151 assists for 297 points in 527 games. In 413 games across six seasons in Toronto, he notched 154 goals and 140 assists for 294 points.

While van Riemsdyk is past his prime, he still figures to still be a key contributor for the Bruins in 2023-24 and beyond alongside Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, assuming the latter returns in free agency.

Arctos Sports Partners is planning to purchase a minority stake in the Tampa Bay Lightning that would value the franchise at $1.4 billion, according to Sportico's Scott Soshnick and Kurt Badenhausen.

That valuation would set a record for an NHL team, a mark that hasn't been topped since the Toronto Maple Leafs were sold to Rogers and Bell Canada for a little more than $1 billion in December 2011.

Arctos first became a minority investor in the Lightning in January 2022, taking advantage of a new rule that allowed private equity firms to buy into NHL teams. Soshnick and Badenhausen noted how the new agreement is subject to new scrutiny by the league:

The Arctos deal, which still needs to be approved by the NHL, required a special waiver from the league, as it exceeds the ownership cap rules for private equity. The NHL's PE policy allows funds to buy non-voting minority stakes in a maximum of five different teams (same as the NBA, and one more than MLS.) The maximum that a single fund can own in an NHL team is 20%, and no franchise can have more than 30% of its equity owned by investment funds.

Arctos maintains a sizable sports portfolio, with the Lightning one of four different NHL teams in which the firm has placed its money. It purchased a stake in the Minnesota Wild at the same time it bought into Tampa Bay, while it has an interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils after having aligned with those franchises' respective ownership groups.

Regardless of whether this deal goes through, one thing is abundantly clear: Chairman Jeff Vinik will profit massively in the event he completely cashes out.

Vinik spent around $110 million to purchase the Lightning in 2010. Since then, the team has lifted the Stanley Cup twice and been a consistent box-office draw. Now, Tampa Bay is a billion dollar organization.

The Vegas Golden Knights won the 2023 Stanley Cup title with a 9-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena, but oddsmakers already have their eyes on 2024.

The Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins opened as the favorites to win the 2024 Stanley Cup at +800, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Here's a look at the 10 teams with the best odds:

• Colorado Avalanche: +800
• Boston Bruins: +800
• Toronto Maple Leafs: +900
• Edmonton Oilers: +1000
• Carolina Hurricanes: +1200
• New Jersey Devils: +1200
• Vegas Golden Knights: +1300
• New York Rangers: +1400
• Florida Panthers: +1400
• Dallas Stars: +1600 

The Avalanche have had one of the best rosters in the NHL over the last few seasons, and they last won the Stanley Cup in 2022. With Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen continuing to compete at a high level, it's no surprise Colorado is considered a top contender entering the 2023-24 season.

The same can be said for the Bruins even though they suffered an epic collapse against the Panthers in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. Boston will return a roster that features David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Brad Marchand next season, bringing the talent needed to lift the Cup for the first time since 2011.

Florida not having some of the best odds to win the 2024 title is somewhat odd, although the franchise is expected to open the season without some of its top players due to injuries suffered during this year's postseason run.

It's also hard to believe the Golden Knights don't have some of the best odds, though it is extremely difficult to repeat as champions.

The Florida Panthers were dealt a tough blow ahead of Tuesday's 9-3 Game 5 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals.

Star forward Matthew Tkachuk was ruled out for Game 5 with an upper body injury, according to Kyle Bukauskas of Sportsnet. Grigori Denisenko took his place in the lineup.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added that Tkachuk was dealing with a "serious" upper body injury before David Dwork of The Hockey News reported after the game that Tkachuk had suffered a broken sternum.

Tkachuk suffered the injury in Game 3 and played through the ailment in Game 4, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters.

Tkachuk was limited to just 16:40 of ice time in Florida's Game 4 loss to Vegas on Saturday. While he recorded four shots on goal in that matchup, it was clear he was laboring with an apparent injury.

The 25-year-old was Florida's best and most valuable player this postseason. He led the Panthers with 11 goals and 24 points in 20 games and also tallied four game-winning goals, three of which came in overtime.

Additionally, Tkachuk tallied two goals and one assist in four games against the Golden Knights.

With the Panthers in a do-or-die situation, it was on the remainder of the team to pick up the slack with Tkachuk sidelined, and team captain Aleksander Barkov echoed that sentiment while speaking with reporters before Game 5.

"He's a top player in this league. He's a huge player for our team," Barkov said of Tkachuk. "No matter what, I think everyone has to step up a little bit and play a little better than we've been."

To say the Panthers struggled against the Golden Knights would be an understatement. Vegas outscored Florida 26-12 and carried much of the play through all five games.

The Panthers rallied back from a 3-1 series deficit in the first round of the playoffs against the top-seeded Boston Bruins, but pulling off that comeback without Tkachuk in the Stanley Cup Final proved to be unrealistic.