NICO STURM

Executives around the NHL expect plenty of movement before free agency opens Wednesday.

The Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup showed the value of speed and skill in a league dramatically tilting in that direction.

Cale Makar scored 8:31 into overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves on his 32nd birthday and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews scored 22 seconds apart in a five-goal first period, sending the Colorado Avalanche to a 7-2 win over the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

The combination of jumbled standings in the Western Conference and a flat salary cap has stalled much of the trade market around the NHL.

Winter Classic Hockey Minnesota Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski (47) controls the puck in front of center Nico Sturm (7) during practice at Target Field in Minneapolis on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021, for Saturday's NHL Winter Classic against the St. Louis Blues. The game the Wild have long lobbied the league to host was delayed a year by the pandemic. He played for Pittsburgh in the Winter Classic in 2011 at Heinz Field. The Blues hosted the Winter Classic in 2017 at Busch Stadium, the home of Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals. This will be the 13th edition of the Winter Classic and the 33rd outdoor game the NHL has staged.

The Minnesota Wild are preparing to play in the NHL's Winter Classic for the first time.

Cam Talbot made 37 saves and the Minnesota Wild beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 despite having only 14 shots on goal to stave off elimination in their opening-round playoff series.

The Avalanche currently have two players on the league’s COVID-19 list: captain Gabriel Landeskog and forward Tyson Jost. AdThe Wolverines’ 13th-ranked women’s basketball team and highly competitive hockey squad also were cleared to enter their facilities. Michigan’s men’s basketball team is scheduled to play Feb. 11 at home against No. ___Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog, Buffalo defenseman Jake McCabe and Minnesota forward Nico Sturm were added to NHL COVID-19 protocol list. ___West Virginia is boosting home attendance to 2,800, or 20% of capacity, for the men’s basketball game Feb. 13 between the 17th-ranked Mountaineers and No.

(AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King, File)The Minnesota Wild traded goalie Devan Dubnyk and forward Ryan Donato to the San Jose Sharks in two separate deals Monday, continuing their makeover under general manager Bill Guerin. The selection the Sharks sent to the Wild was originally Pittsburgh's, first dealt to San Jose on Feb. 24 for forward Patrick Marleau. The Wild now own two 2021 picks from the Penguins, who traded next year's first-rounder to Minnesota for forward Jason Zucker. Donato, who is the son of former Bruins stalwart Ted Donato, has 29 goals and 28 assists in 130 career NHL games. The 26-year-old Soucy had seven goals, seven assists and a team-leading plus-16 rating in 55 games in his first full NHL season.