ToHN Daily: Puck drops on a new season, Preds sign veteran D

The puck dropped on the 2021-2022 National Hockey League season Tuesday, with a pair of interesting matchups and the Preds sign a veteran defenseman with the season fast approaching.

In a matchup of the last two expansion teams, the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Seattle Kraken. After Vegas jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Kraken made a game of it, rallying to tie the game at three, only to have the Golden Knights kick in the winning goal. The Golden Knights were the better team on this night but the Kraken showed up for their first ever regular season game.

Hockey players can be legitimately tough guys, except for when their feelings get hurt by someone’s goal celebration. Morgan Geekie was a little too excited about his third period goal and, apparently, there was stick-twirling involved.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, won 6-2 at Tampa Bay. The Lightning did not look like they were in championship form in the aftermath of their banner raising.

Brian Boyle, who did not play in the NHL last season, officially signed his one-year contract with the Penguins and scored Pittsburgh’s second goal.

Around the Rink

Nashville: The Predators have locked up a big part of their blueline with a four-year contract extension. Mattias Ekholm inked a new contract that will take him through the 2025-2026 season. Ekholm’s defensive play had slipped some last season so the Predators hope that isn’t the start of a trend but Ekholm has been a reliable blueline piece for them for a long time. He was rumoured to be on the trade block last season but then the Predators got back into the playoff race so Nashville decided to keep Ekholm, with the intention of signing him to an extension. And here it is.

Colorado: Nathan MacKinnon to miss Avs opener after testing positive for COVID-19.

Montreal: The Canadiens signed Nick Suzuki to a new contract, an 8-year, $63 million contract extension.

N.Y. Rangers: Vitali Kravtsov is not happy with the New York Rangers and has been given permission to seek out trade opportunities.

Vancouver: The Canucks signed right winger Alex Chiasson, who had been in training camp on a player tryout. He is a fourth-line winger who can work the net front on the power play.

Edmonton: Colton Sceviour earned a contract off his PTO with the Oilers.

Toronto: What are the stakes for the Maple Leafs this season? (ToHN+)

Not a member? Subscribe to TorontoHockeyNow today and get $10 dollars off our subscription fee of $39.99 for access to all four Canadian sites. Use promo code “Maple Leafs” to get $10 off on your first day!