NASHVILLE Go Blue Jackets?The Columbus Blue Jackets play in the same city as Ohio State University, but they continue to source players from Ohio State's archrival, the University of Michigan.They selected center Adam Fantilli in the first round No. 3 of the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, then forward Gavin Brindley in the second round No. 34 on Thursday.Fantilli and Brindley played on the same line much of last season and lived in the same dorm, South Quad, as freshmen in Ann Arbor.As Columbus was about to make the No. 34 pick Thursday, Fantilli sat across from Brindley, looking at him with both hands up and his fingers crossed. When the pick was announced, Fantilli jumped up before Brindley did. Fantilli found Brindley on the draft floor, and they gave each other a big bear hug."Yeah, " Brindley said, "it was a pretty cool moment for us."RELATED: [Complete 2023 NHL Draft coverage]The Blue Jackets already have three Michigan players: defenseman Zach Werenski, a first round pick No. 8 in the 2015 NHL Draft; center Kent Johnson, a first round pick No. 5 in the 2021 NHL Draft; and defenseman Nick Blankenburg Alex Wennberg Jersey, an undrafted free agent signed July 15, 2022.Fantilli referenced that in his first comment to the media after his selection."To know there's a lot of Michigan guys where I'm headed, " Fantilli said, "it's going to be really cool."Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said he thinks the Columbus Michigan connection is a coincidence. When the Blue Jackets make their draft list, they rank the players in order of preference. They aren't going to prefer a player just because of his school.Especially if it's That School Up North."It's just has fallen this way now that we've gotten a lot of Michigan players, " Kekalainen said.That said, Michigan's Yost Ice Arena is only about a three hour drive north of Columbus' Nationwide Arena, making it an easy place for the Blue Jackets to visit. It's a safe bet that Kekalainen and his colleagues know where the coffee is."I have been there a few times, " said Ville Siren, the Blue Jackets director of amateur scouting. "Let's put it that way. I saw [the Wolverines] on the road too."Michigan has a long history of success in hockey, and the Wolverines have had six players selected in the top 10 since 2015, including three in the top five in 2021.Defenseman Owen Power went to the Buffalo Sabres at No. 1 and forward Matty Beniers went to the Seattle Kraken at No. 2 before Johnson went to the Blue Jackets at No. 5.Beniers won the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year this season. Power finished third in the voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association."In that way, it's not a coincidence, " Kekalainen said. "They have good players in that program."And one can lead to another.Kekalainen said Brindley "was an easy guy to find because we went to see Adam Fantilli so much." Adam Fantilli taken No. 3 by Columbus Blue Jackets Fantilli was long considered one of the top prospects in this draft. He led Michigan with 65 points 30 goals, 35 assists in 36 games last season and won the Hobey Baker Award as the top men's player in the NCAA."He's a freak of nature, " Brindley said. "He's 6 2, 6 3, 195 pounds and moves like a 5 9, 170 guy out there. His skating ability, his skill set, the way he shoots the puck, it's off the charts. He thinks the game at such an elite level as well."Brindley is, well, a 5 9 Chris Driedger Jersey, 170 guy. But he earned the opportunity to play with Fantilli and in the process showed Columbus he can play bigger than his size. He had 38 points 12 goals, 26 assists in 41 games."If you want to play at that size, you've got to be competitive, because guys are not going to give you any leeway just because you're small Connor Carrick Jersey, " Kekalainen said. "But he plays the right way. He doesn't shy away from any physical confrontation and just plays hard."Another advantage to Michigan is Brandon Naurato, who guided the Wolverines to the Frozen Four in his first season as coach and knows how to develop players for the NHL. He spent three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings as a player development consultant and trains NHL players in the Detroit area in the offseason.It remains to be seen if Fantilli will return to Michigan for his sophomore season, but Brindley will be back to work with Naurato again."He's awesome, " Brindley said. "I've played for a lot of unbelievable coaches, and kudos to them. But 'Naurs, ' the way he thinks the game and understands the game is next level. I mean, he's helped me so much this past year, and I can imagine playing with him for two or three years, maybe even four years."There is only one problem, at least for Brindley. His mother, Rochelle, is from Coshocton, Ohio, about 1 hours east of Nationwide Arena. He has family in the Columbus area too."They're big Ohio State fans, " Brindley said with a smile. "Don't repeat that. It didn't come from me."

Welcome to the NHL On Tap. Three NHL.com writers will share what they are most looking forward to on the schedule each day. Today, their choices from the six games Monday.Related: How to watch and stream NHL gamesOvechkin tries for 1, 500th again vs. streaking CoyotesAlex Ovechkin needs one point to become the 16th player in NHL history to reach 1, 500 points when the Washington Capitals visit the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena 9 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, MNMT. The captain was held without a point in a 4 1 loss at the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday and is second in NHL history with 827 goals and has 672 assists in 1, 368 regular season games during his 19 NHL seasons. Selected by the Capitals with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, the 38 year old left wing Murray Craven Jersey, who has no goals and two assists in his past six games, would be the eighth NHL player to reach the milestone with one team. The Coyotes 12 9 2 have a chance to become the first team in NHL history with a winning streak of at least five games where five or more of the opponents during the run were one of the previous six Stanley Cup winners: the Golden Knights 2023 , Tampa Bay Lightning 2020, 2021 , Colorado Avalanche 2022 , St. Louis Blues 2019 and Capitals 2018. Washington 12 7 2 wraps up a five game road trip; it's 2 2 0 so far. Tom Gulitti, staff writerLightning's rematch with Stars in Hedman's 1, 000th gameIt may be time to be a little concerned about the Lightning. They play the second of a home and home set against the Dallas Stars at Amalie Arena 7 p.m. ET; BSSUN, BSSW after an 8 1 loss in Dallas on Saturday. The Lightning 10 10 5 , have lost a season high four consecutive games while being outscored 19 5 and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was pulled after the second period. Figure on "The Big Cat" getting another chance at the Stars 14 5 3 , who are 7 2 2 in their past 11 games and one point behind the first place Avalanche in the Central Division. Don't count on the old guard going quietly. Victor Hedman is expected to play his 1, 000th regular season game since Tampa Bay made the defenseman the No. 2 pick in the 2009 NHL Draft. Nikita Kucherov, the leading scorer in the NHL, has points in nine consecutive games four goals, 13 assists and reached 40 points 15 goals, 25 assists in 24 games this season, passing captain Steven Stamkos 25 games in 2010 11 for fastest in Lightning history. Jon Lane, staff writerGuentzel tries to extend point streakJake Guentzel looks to extend a five game point streak when the Pittsburgh Penguins face the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center 7 p.m. ET; SN PIT, NBCSP. Guentzel has six points three goals, three assists during the run and scored twice in a 4 3 shootout loss to the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday. The Penguins 11 10 2 have lost four of six 2 2 2 and the Flyers 12 10 2 are on a 2 3 1 slide, but 21 year old forward Tyson has three goals and two assists in his past three games, including a goal and an assist in the win at Pittsburgh on Saturday. William Douglas, staff writerMonday gamesPittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers 7 p.m. ET; SN PIT, NBCSP The Flyers and Penguins face each other for the second time in three days. Philadelphia will try to end a 0 2 1 skid on home ice. Pittsburgh is 9 3 2 in its past 14 games played at Wells Fargo Center, 3 1 0 in its past four.Dallas Stars at Tampa Bay Lightning 7 p.m. ET; BSSUN https://www.flyersprostore.com/pelle-eklund-jersey, BSSW Joe Pavelski, a 39 year old forward, can match his NHL career high by pushing his point streak to 10 games six goals, six assists and become the eighth player age 39 or older with a point streak of at least 10 games. Vasilevskiy is 1 3 0 with a 3.87 goals against average and.859 save percentage since debuting with 22 saves in an 8 2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 24 following microdiscectomy surgery for a herniated lumbar disk in his back Sept. 28.Seattle Kraken at Montreal Canadiens 7:30 p.m. ET; RDS, SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, ROOT NW The Canadiens 10 11 3 are 0 5 7 1 this season at Bell Centre. The Kraken 8 11 6 have lost four in a row 0 3 1 , including the first three 0 2 1 of a four game road trip.Carolina Hurricanes at Winnipeg Jets 7:30 p.m. ET; SNW, BSSO The Hurricanes 14 8 1 begin their second six game road trip of the season after going 2 4 0 from Oct. 14 24. Carolina forward Sebastian Aho has six points three goals, three assists during a four game point streak. Forward Cole Perfetti has scored eight goals in his past 12 games for the Jets 13 8 2 , who ended a three game losing streak with 3 1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Winnipeg forward Nino Niederreiter signed a three year, $12 million contract Monday. It has an average annual value of $4 million and begins next season.Washington Capitals at Arizona Coyotes 9 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, MNMT Michael Carcone leads the Coyotes with 11 goals and he's scored in four consecutive home games five total. Arizona is 7 4 0 at home and 5 5 2 on the road. Washington is 5 3 1 on the road. Tom Wilson has four goals in the past two games, including his first NHL hat trick in in 700th game, a 5 4 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 30, to tie Dylan Strome for the Capitals lead with eight goals.St. Louis Blues at Vegas Golden Knights 10 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, BSMW, SN1 Mark Recchi Jersey, TVAS St. Louis 12 10 1 and Vegas 16 5 4 begin a home and home series. The Blues have alternated wins and losses in their past six games. Goalie Jordan Binnington is 7 2 4 with a 3.04 GAA and.916 save percentage in 14 games 13 starts against the Golden Knights. Jack Eichel can join Jonathan Marchessault as the only players in Golden Knights history with three consecutive three point games. Eichel has played 25 games and is three points from becoming the second fastest Vegas skater to reach the 30 point mark in a single season. Mark Stone had 31 in 24 games of the 2020 21 season and Eichel had 32 in 28 games in 2022 23.

Florida Panthers assistant general manager Brett Peterson was named the first Black general manager of the 2024 United States men's national team Thursday.The United States will compete in 2024 IIHF World Championship in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic, on May 10 26."It's a great honor, and I'm excited to get a group of fantastic individuals together and see what we can do, " Peterson said. "I'm very happy that our game and our sport continues to evolve and grow where there can be 'firsts' and 'seconds' and 'thirds.' I think it just speaks to what USA Hockey has done creating opportunities for so many different people to play the game, myself included https://www.hurricanesprostore.com/kieffer-bellows-jersey, and then to continue to fall in love with it and continue to want to chase our dreams to the highest level."USA Hockey assistant executive director of hockey operations John Vanbiesbrouck said Peterson "has done a terrific job in helping build the Florida Panthers" since he became assistant GM on Nov. 17, 2020. The Panthers have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times during Peterson's tenure and reached the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, a five game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights."We are really excited to have Brett as the general manager of our men's national team, " Vanbiesbrouck said, " His extensive knowledge of the overall player pool in our country will be really beneficial in putting together our team for the World Championship."The United States Men's National Team Advisory Group, led by Vanbiesbrouck and includes NHL general managers Kevyn Adams Buffalo Sabres , Craig Conroy Calgary Flames , Chris Drury New York Rangers , Tom Fitzgerald New Jersey Devils , Mike Grier San Jose Sharks , Bill Guerin Minnesota Wild , Lou Lamoriello New York Islanders , Chris MacFarland Colorado Avalanche , Don Waddell Carolina Hurricanes and Bill Zito Panthers , will assist Peterson in constructing the roster for the 2024 team."For me, this is just another opportunity to learn from a very established group of gentlemen, " Peterson said. "Some of them I know well, some of them I know kind of well, and get to know what their thought processes are on things and, hopefully, continue to use that in my own growth and development as I continue to improve as an assistant GM."The United States will compete in Group B at Worlds with France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and Slovakia and play their preliminary round games at Ostrava Arena.Group A features Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Czechia, Denmark, Norway, Austria and Great Britain. They will play preliminary round games at Prague Arena, which also will host the semifinals and medal games.The United States finished fourth at the 2023 Worlds in Tampere Andrei Svechnikov Jersey, Finland, and Riga, Latvia, losing 4 3 in overtime to Latvia in the bronze medal game. It has won four medals, all bronze, in the past 10 tournaments 2013, 2015, 2018, 2021.Peterson said he wants the 2024 team to be "a fun group of interesting personalities that want to play the game the right way, that want to be competitive, want to play fast and really push the envelope and represent our country on the stage where I feel like we can show the world just how much we've improved our hockey over the years."Peterson joined the Panthers front office after being a player agent and vice president for hockey at Wasserman. He began his sports representation career in 2009 at Acme World Sports, which was co founded by Zito and acquired by Wasserman in 2020, after playing four seasons as a defenseman at Boston College 2000 04. He helped the Eagles win the 2001 NCAA Division I national championship.The 42 year old native of Northborough, Massachusetts, played 340 minor league games; 317 for Atlantic City, Johnstown, Florida and Phoenix of the ECHL; 21 for Albany and Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League; and two for Flint of the International Hockey League before retiring after the 2008 09 season. He was part of a group that helped assemble an all Black and Hispanic team from the NextGen AAA Foundation that won its division in the 2020 Beantown Summer Classic, a prestigious tournament.The team was coached by Grier, who became the first Black general manager in the NHL when the Sharks hired him July 5, 2022 Nathan Beaulieu Jersey, and Bryce Salvador, now a Devils television analyst.

Nazem Kadri knows outdoor hockey. The center will play his fifth NHL outdoor game when the Calgary Flames face the Edmonton Oilers in the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Sunday 7 p. m. ET; TVAS, SN, TBS, MAX. Only seven others have played more. James van Riemsdyk has played seven, and Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Evgeni Malkin, Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews each has played six. Seven others have played five. "Pretty cool," said Kadri, 33. "Makes me feel a little bit old, but hey, man, I'll take it. It's always a pleasure to have a game with this magnitude and just the uniqueness of it. "No matter how many NHL outdoor games you play, each is different and special, as Kadri can attest perhaps better than anyone else. He has played in front of the largest crowd to watch an NHL game and the smallest; in stadiums and on a golf course next to a lake; in snow and cold and wind and sun. He said his favorite probably was his first. He was with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3 2 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings in the Winter Classic on Jan Calvin Pickard Jersey. 1, 2014. It snowed and was 13 degrees Fahrenheit at face off. An NHL record crowd of 105,491 packed Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, split between red and blue. "Two Original Six teams," Kadri said. "I think that one had a lot of great tradition and history. It meant a lot for both teams, and obviously the venue was incredible. We had over 100,000 fans, something we might not see again. It was cool. "Kadri played for the Maple Leafs in a 5 4 overtime win against the Red Wings in the Centennial Classic on Jan. 1, 2017, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the NHL. It was 37 degrees at face off with a crowd of 40,148 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. He scored for the Maple Leafs in a 5 2 loss to the Washington Capitals in the NHL Stadium Series on March 3, 2018. Wind was a factor leading up to the game, and it was 42 degrees at face off for the 29,516 at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The field looked like the deck of an aircraft carrier, complete with a model fighter jet. See through Day 6 of the rink build in Commonwealth Stadium Then there was the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe on Feb. 20, 2021. During the COVID 19 pandemic, the League staged two outdoor games with no fans for television on a golf course on the lakeshore in Stateline, Nevada. Kadri played for the Colorado Avalanche in the first game, a 3 2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights Oilers Hoodies. It was 34 degrees at face off at noon PT, but the game was delayed by sun after the first period and resumed with temperatures in the 20s in the dark at 9 p. m. PT. "It's always a fun adventure, the outdoor destinations, more so the magnitude around the actual game," Kadri said. "Once you drop the puck, it seems like just another ordinary game besides the wind and the sun and kind of battling the weather aspect. But yeah, man, it's great. "This will be Kadri's first Heritage Classic and the 20th anniversary of the NHL's first modern outdoor game, a 4 3 win for the Montreal Canadiens against the Oilers before 57,167 at the same stadium Nov. 22, 2003. The Heritage Classic celebrates hockey's outdoor roots in Canada in particular. Growing up in London, Ontario, Kadri was like so many Canadian kids, with a backyard rink. Some of his buddies went all out with their backyard rinks, with boards, netting, everything. "They'd even throw some paint on the ice," Kadri said. "It wasn't, like, any Picasso by any means. It was more so the idea. It made it feel extra special. It's something that I'll never forget. "It was as wholesome as hockey gets. "We'd always pick up some shinny games and have some hot chocolate after," Kadri said. "You'd talk about whose house you were going to next week and kind of plan it all out, map out the teams and the format, as kids. That's kind of what these outdoor games do, is bring that little kid out again. "This also will be the first time the Battle of Alberta will be played outdoors, and the largest crowd to see a game in the rivalry. "It's epic," Kadri said https://www.edmontonoilersstoreonline.com/mark-fayne-jersey. "Of course, a lot of history and tradition, and any time you have that it makes a good recipe for a rivalry. Any time both teams are competitive also, I think it kind of adds a little fuel to the fire, and that's exactly what we're seeing now. It's a great time for the Battle of Alberta. "The Flames would love to win in Edmonton. They lost to the Oilers 4 1 in the Western Conference Second Round in 2022, then went 1 2 0 against them last season and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs by two points. Kadri is 3 1 0 in NHL outdoor games. The forecast is partly cloudy with a high of 37. "Let's keep it rolling," he said. "Hopefully the weather holds up and it's a beautiful day and we can have some fun. "Nazem Kadri outdoor gamesGameLocation Attendance ResultKadri G A PSOGrating2014 Winter ClassicMichigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan 105,491 TOR 3, DET 2 SO 0 0 02minus 12017 Centennial ClassicExhibition Stadium, Toronto 40,148 TOR 5, DET OT 0 0 06plus 12018 Stadium SeriesNavy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, Maryland 29,516 WSH 5, TOR 21 0 13evenNHL Outdoors at Lake TahoeEdgewood Tahoe Resort, Stateline, Nevada 0 COL 3, VGK 20 0 06minus 1Related Content 1st Heritage Classic played 20 years ago brings back warm memoriesOct 22, 20232023 Heritage Classic to be latest in long tradition of amazing' NHL outdoor gamesOct 19, 2023Refrigeration unit arrives for 2023 NHL Heritage Classic in EdmontonOct 18, 2023'Battle of Alberta' at Heritage Classic to spotlight field design of player illustrations, vintage uniformsOct 18, 2023