St. Paul, Minn. – Vladimir Tarasenko and his family welcomed a summer visitor to their home in Florida with a feast befitting a New Year’s Eve celebration in their native Russia, sending him off after a five-hour stay with an armful of leftovers.
Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes was so appreciative of the hospitality he hand-washed and returned the empty containers to Tarasenko before training camp began.
“We didn’t ask for that,” Tarasenko said, with a sheepish smile.
The 14th-year NHL veteran didn’t anticipate such a hearty welcome from his new team, once a fierce Central Division rival. Tarasenko was acquired by the Wild from the Detroit Red Wings in an offseason trade for future considerations, essentially a salary dump after a disappointing stint.
Now, not that long after he regularly ruined their nights while playing a leading role for the St. Louis Blues, Tarasenko will make his Wild debut in the opener on Thursday in, fittingly, the city where he played his first 10 1/2 seasons in the league.
“I wouldn’t expect this from my career before, maybe five or six years ago, but I can’t complain,” Tarasenko said. “It’s a new chapter for us. It’s a very good group of people here, and so far I’ve been helped almost like never before. Everything’s been smooth. I’ll say it one more time: When it’s a good group of guys, it makes things very easy.”
Tarasenko had 262 goals and 553 points in 644 regular season games with the Blues, who drafted him at age 18 with the 16th overall pick in the 2010 draft. He had 41 goals and 60 points in 90 playoff games, too, and no opponent felt the sting of those rocket shots more than the Wild.
Including the postseason, when he scored 12 times over three series, Tarasenko had 25 goals in 51 career games for St. Louis against Minnesota. Factoring in his subsequent stints with the New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers, Tarasenko has 48 points in 54 games against the Wild for his most on any opponent.
The Wild are more than happy to have him, with veterans Mats Zuccarello (lower body) and Nico Sturm (back) on injured reserve and expected to be sidelined for significant portions of the season and several forward spots being manned by young players.
“We offer a guy like him a lot of good players to play with,” general manager Bill Guerin said. “I know he’s motivated.”
With star Kirill Kaprizov, rookie Danila Yurov and third-line left wing Yakov Trenin, the Wild also have three other Russians to benefit from Tarasenko’s presence.
“Even if you know English well, you probably would rather have somebody in your native language who you can talk not only hockey but life in general,” Tarasenko said.
Playing for any team beside the Blues wasn’t a consideration until he became unhappy about the way they handled his shoulder injuries after he had a big hand in the franchise’s first win of the Stanley Cup in 2019. Tarasenko first requested a trade after the 2020-21 season, nevertheless reported to camp and produced the only point-per-game full season of his career.
But when the Blues slumped the following season, they traded him to New York down the stretch. After signing with Ottawa the next summer, Tarasenko was on the move again before the deadline and wound up with his second championship with Florida in 2024. Though he played in 80 games for Detroit last season, he managed only 11 goals and 22 assists with a minus-13 rating.
“I’ve been always a competitive guy, and I have a lot of motivation before this season, especially after last year, being out to prove to everybody. My life has always been like this,” said Tarasenko, who has been playing right wing on the second line next to center Joel Eriksson Ek with Marcus Foligno at left wing.
“I always have to prove something, and I figure it is going to be like this, and I’m OK with that. I like having pressure, and it makes you work harder, and the feeling when you can prove something, if you can for people who do not believe in you, it’s priceless.”
As for facing the Blues, well, he doesn’t hide his feelings about them, either.
“I met a lot of good people in St. Louis. I have very good memories,” Tarasenko said after practice on Wednesday. “When I get traded, they said that it’s a business, so the games against them are always personal for me, obviously. I’m looking at this as an opening game with a new team. I feel excited for the opportunity.”
Jets sign Connor to $96M extension
Winnipeg, Manitoba – Former Wolverine Kyle Connor (Shelby Township) is staying in Winnipeg, with the Jets keeping a franchise cornerstone and their most reliable goal-scorer in the fold through his prime and beyond.
The reigning first-team NHL All-Star left winger signed an eight-year, $96 million contract extension, the team announced Wednesday. Connor will count $12 million against the salary cap from when the new deal kicks in next season through 2034.
“Both sides were working hard to get this done before the season, and I couldn’t be more thrilled and excited to be part of this organization for the next eight, nine years – including this year,” Connor said. “Both sides wanted a long-term deal, and we knew the fit was great here.”
Connor, who turns 29 in December, was set to be an unrestricted free agent next summer. He’s the latest high-profile player to re-up with his current team after Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov signed the richest deal in league history and Connor McDavid opted to stay in Edmonton without a raise.
Connor had 41 goals and 56 assists for a career-high 97 points with the Jets in 2024-25, when they won the Presidents’ Trophy as the top team in the regular season. They reached the second round of the playoffs before losing to Dallas and have become a perennial contender in the Western Conference.
“Just looking at the window and the pieces that this organization has built over the years and just their willingness to win at all costs, you can see it top-down,” Connor said. “This team, these guys here and this organization has been nothing but top notch and just giving you every chance you can to succeed and all the tools.”
Connor, who played for the U.S. at the 4 Nations Face-Off and is expected to be part of the team at the Olympics in Milan, has spent his entire professional career with the Jets since they picked him 17th in the 2015 draft. He has 631 points in 671 games, counting the regular season and playoffs.
A winner of the Lady Byng Trophy in 2022 for sportsmanship, Connor is also the latest Winnipeg player to sign long term to remain in the Manitoba city of roughly 800,000. The Jets locked up center Mark Scheifele and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who won the Vezina Trophy and also the Hart as MVP, to lucrative contracts in October 2023.
Scheifele, Hellebuyck, forward Gabriel Vilardi and defenseman Neal Pionk are under contract through 2031. Connor goes beyond that after deciding not to test free agency.
“There was never any scenario where I could see myself going somewhere else,” Connor said. “I wouldn’t want to try to win a Stanley Cup with another group of players and an organization. … Once you really start thinking about it, there was no other place.”
Vegas, Eichel agree on $108M deal
Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights have agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension worth $108 million, the club announced Wednesday.
Eichel will count $13.5 million against the salary cap from the time the new contract kicks in for the 2026-27 season through 2034.
The soon-to-be 29-year-old center is the latest high-profile player to re-up with his current team after Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov inked the richest deal in league history at $136 million over eight years, Connor McDavid opted to stay in Edmonton on a short-term deal without a raise from his current $12.5 million salary and Kyle Connor re-signed in Winnipeg for the maximum eight years at $12 million annually.
Eichel set career highs with 66 assists and 94 points last season, when the Golden Knights finished first in the Pacific Division. He helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2023.
His representatives and Vegas’ front office reached the agreement roughly six hours before the start of the season. Asked before training camp opened if he would shut down negotiations once meaningful games get going, Eichel brushed off the question.
“If a contract happens organically, then it happens,” Eichel said last month in Las Vegas at the NHL/NHLPA preseason player media tour. “You can only control so much, right, and that’s sort of in my mindset. What are the things that I focus on? Preparing for the season, getting my mind and body in the best place to be successful and help our hockey team. That’s more so my focus. I think anything else sort of just takes care of itself when you do your job well.”
Eichel was the second pick in the 2015 draft by Buffalo. He played his first five-plus seasons for the Sabres before a dispute over surgery to repair as neck injury led to a trade to Vegas in ’21.
Since undergoing artificial disk replacement, Eichel has produced above a point-a-game level for the Knights. He was the No. 1 center for the U.S. at the 4 Nations Face-Off and has already been selected to the Olympic team.
Wednesday’s games
(At) Toronto 5, Montreal 2: Morgan Rielly broke a tie at 9:02 of the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Wednesday night in the regular-season opener for both teams.
Matthew Knies chipped the puck to Rielly in the slot and he fired a wrist shot past goalie Sam Montembeault into the top right corner. Auston Matthews and William Nylander added empty-netters, with Nylander finishing with three points.
Bobby McMann and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for Toronto, and Anthony Stolarz stopped 29 shots. Rielly, John Tavares and Steven Lorentz also had two points.
Oliver Kapanen scored his first NHL goal for Montreal. Zac Boldujc added a goal, and Montembeault made 22 saves.
The Canadiens will be in Detroit to face the Red Wings on Thursday.
Boston 3, (at) Washington 1: David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves in the Boston Bruins’ 3-1 victory over Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
Pastrnak scored in the second period and Elias Lindholm added a goal at 7:41 of the third – just 38 seconds after Tom Wilson had tied it at 1 for Washington.
Morgan Geekie scored into an empty net with 57.1 seconds remaining.
The Bruins made Marco Sturm a winner in his first game as coach, killing off all five of Washington’s power plays. That included a two-man advantage that lasted nearly a minute in the second.
The 40-year-old Ovechkin is in the final year of his contract, and if this was his last season opener, at least one goal-scoring record will elude him. He has 13 goals in openers, but Michel Goulet and Dino Ciccarelli both had 14.
After breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record late last season, Ovechkin entered 2025-26 with 897 career goals. He had three shots on goal Wednesday but couldn’t beat Swayman. After dealing with a preseason injury last month, Ovechkin occasionally came off the ice during power plays instead of staying on with both units.
(At) L.A. Kings 6, Vegas 5 (SO): Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore scored during the shootout and Los Angeles spoiled Pavel Dorofeyev’s hat trick and Mitch Marner’s debut in a Vegas uniform with a win over the Golden Knights.
After squandering a pair of two-goal leads in the second period, and falling behind by two goals in the third, the Kings bounced back from Tuesday’s season-opening loss to Colorado.
Moore and Brandt Clarke scored late in the third to tie the game and force overtime after Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev scored to give Vegas a 5-3 lead.
Andrei Kuzmenko, Quinton Byfield and Joel Armia also scored in regulation, while Anton Forsberg stopped 30 shots for the Kings.
Dorofeyev notched the third hat trick of his career for Vegas and Adin Hill, who hasn’t beaten the Kings as a member of the Knights, made 21 saves.
Calgary 4, (at) Edmonton 3 (SO): Nazem Kadri scored in the eighth round of a shootout to give Calgary a comeback victory over Edmonton, spoiling Oilers star Leon Draisaitl’s 400th NHL goal.
After Draisaitl and Morgan Frost each scored in the second round of the tiebreaker, the next 11 shooters failed before Kadri slipped a backhander past Stuart Skinner to end the season opener.
Playing his 791st regular-season game, Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 3-0 lead at 8:32 of the second period. He tapped in David Tomasek’s cross-crease feed, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also assisting.
Draisaitl also had an assist to push his points total to 958. The 29-year-old German star is the 111th player in NHL history to score 400 goals.
Matvei Gridin scored in his NHL debut to start the Calgary rally and Connor Zary and Blake Coleman added goals. Dustin Wolf made 32 saves.
Nugent-Hopkins and former Calgary forward Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Oilers, coming off consecutive Stanley Cup Finals losses to the Florida Panthers. Mangiapane played for Washington last season after seven years with the Flames.
October schedules
Thursday
▶ Canadiens at Red Wings, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Ferris State, 7
▶ NTDP U18 at University of Wisconsin, 8
Friday
▶ Grand Rapids at Texas, 8
▶ New Hampshire at Michigan State, 7
▶ Michigan at Providence, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Ferris State, 7
▶ Northern Michigan at Ohio State, 6:30
▶ Muskegon at NTDP U17, 7
Saturday
▶ Maple Leafs at Red Wings, 7
▶ Grand Rapids at Texas, 8
▶ New Hampshire at Michigan State, 7:30
▶ Michigan at Providence, 7
▶ Northern Michigan at Ohio State, 5
Monday, Oct. 13
▶ Red Wings at Maple Leafs, 4
Wednesday, Oct. 15
▶ Panthers at Red Wings, 7
Thursday, Oct. 16
▶ Robert Morris at Michigan, 7
▶ Green Bay at NTDP U17, 7
Friday, Oct. 17
▶ Lightning at Red Wings, 7
▶ Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7
▶ Michigan State at Boston University, 6:30
▶ Robert Morris at Michigan, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Massuchusetts Lowell, 7:15
▶ Michigan Tech at Alaska, 11 p.m.
▶ Colorado College at Northern Michigan, 7
▶ Lake Superior State at NTDP U18, 7
▶ NTDP U17 at Youngston, 7
Saturday, Oct. 18
▶ Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7
▶ Michigan State at Boston University, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Massachusetts Lowell, 6
▶ Michigan Tech at Alaska, 11 p.m.
▶ Colorado College at Northern Michigan, 6
▶ Ferris State at NTDP U18, 7
Sunday, Oct. 19
▶ Oilers at Red Wings, 3
Wednesday, Oct. 22
▶ Red Wings at Sabres, 7:30
Thursday, Oct. 23
▶ Red Wings at Islanders, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Michigan, 7
Friday, Oct. 24
▶ Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7
▶ Michigan State at Northern Michigan, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Michigan, 7
▶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 6
▶ NTDP U18 at Niagara University, 6
▶ NTDP U17 at Des Moines, 8
Saturday, Oct. 25
▶ Blues at Red Wings, 7
▶ Michigan State at Northern Michigan, 6
▶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 6
▶ NTDP U18 at Cornell, 7
▶ NTDP U17 at Des Moines, 8
Tuesday, Oct. 28
▶ Red Wings at Blues, 8:15
▶ Grand Rapids at Iowa, 8
Thursday, Oct. 30
▶ Red Wings at L.A. Kings, 10:30
▶ Muskegon at NTDP U18, 7
Friday, Oct. 31
▶ Red Wings at Ducks, 10
▶ Michigan at Notre Dame, TBD
▶ Michigan Tech at Clarkson, 7
▶ Northern Michigan at Augustana, 8
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