Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but says that the naming of his NHL expansion team doesn't cross any lines with the U.S. Army, whose longtime elite parachute team also uses the nickname Golden Knights.

"I have complete respect for the US Army and all that it does for our nation," Foley told ESPN in an email after news surfaced that the U.S. Army was looking into the official naming of the 31st NHL franchise last week because of the shared nickname.

"Our development and use of the name Vegas Golden Knights was based upon Nevada being the largest gold producing state in the country and the golden tones of the Las Vegas strip," Foley wrote.

New Florida coach Tom Rowe met with captain Derek MacKenzie and the rest of the Panthers' leadership on Monday. He talked to the whole team on Tuesday.

Rowe knows Gerard Gallant is well-liked in Florida's locker room, and Rowe wanted to be as transparent as possible on why the coach was let go just 22 games into the season.

"I came in and I told them, I said 'Listen, we're not going to change a whole lot. We need to tweak a few things,'" Rowe said.

"But if I came in here and wasn't sensitive to that, it just wouldn't work. I love our room. I love our leadership group, and we've got the right guys to help us get going."

The Blue Jackets have traded defenseman Cody Goloubef to the Avalanche in exchange for defenseman Ryan Stanton, club General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen announced tonight. Stanton has been assigned to the Cleveland Monsters, Columbus' American Hockey League affiliate.

Stanton, 27, has appeared in 120 career NHL games, registering four goals and 23 assists for 27 points with 71 penalty minutes and a +14 plus/minus rating with Washington, Vancouver and Chicago. 

Goloubef, 26, was selected by the Blue Jackets in the second round of the 2008 NHL Draft and tallied 2-16-18 and 41 penalty minutes in 96 career NHL games with the club. He also picked up 20-57-77 and 254 penalty minutes in 217 career AHL games, including 2-5-7 and 22 penalty minutes in 16 games with Cleveland this season.

Sabres center Jack Eichel declared he's cleared every hurdle in recovering from a sprained left ankle, and coach Dan Bylsma said there's a possibility the center will make his season debut at Ottawa on Tuesday.

"We'll see," Bylsma said Monday, giving no guarantees that Eichel will play against the Senators. But Bylsma noted he was impressed by how the player performed during consecutive days of rigorous practices.

Gerard Gallant was a Coach of the Year finalist last season after guiding the Florida Panthers to a division title and the best regular season record in franchise history.

He made it through just 22 games this season, but then the Panthers decided a change was needed.

The team fired Gallant on Sunday night, a source confirmed to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun. The move was made after the Panthers' 3-2 loss at Carolina, which dropped Florida to 11-10-1 this season, good for only 10th in the Eastern Conference.

The Vancouver Canucks have signed defenseman Ben Hutton to a two-year, $5.6 million contract extension, the team announced Thursday.

Veteran defenseman Matt Carle is retiring after playing for four different NHL teams, most recently the Nashville Predators.

The 32-year-old Carle announced his retirement Friday in a news release sent by the Predators. Carle played six games for Nashville this season and had one assist.

Five months after being awarded an NHL franchise, Las Vegas' expansion team finally has a name. The Vegas Golden Knights will be the city's first major professional sports team when they begin play in the 2017-18 season.

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley made the announcement, alongside NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and team general manager George McPhee, in front of a raucous crowd outside the recently constructed T-Mobile Arena, the team's new home, located just off the Las Vegas Strip.

New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton announced today that the team has claimed forward Matt Puempel off waivers.
Puempel, 23, has skated in 13 games with the Ottawa Senators this season, registering 12 shots on goal and seven penalty minutes.

He has posted a plus/minus rating of even or better in nine of the 13 contests he has played in 2016-17.
Puempel has skated in 52 career NHL games over parts of three seasons (2014-15 – 2016-17), all with Ottawa, registering four goals and two assists for six points, along with 24 penalty minutes. 

The biggest name in next summer's NHL free-agent class has taken himself off the market.

Pending unrestricted free agent Brent Burns and the San Jose Sharks agreed to an eight-year extension Tuesday, the team announced.