Carolina tendered an offer sheet to restricted free agent Jesperi Kotkaniemi on Saturday as the ongoing storyline between the Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens continued.

Two years after Carolina star forward Sebastian Aho received a five-year, $42 million tender as a restricted free agent from the Canadiens, a deal that the Hurricanes matched, Montreal had the tables turned.

Kotkaniemi, a sharp shooter who at times was left out of the lineup as Montreal raced to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, agreed to a one-year contract with Carolina that will pay him $6.1 million.

With his future in Buffalo uncertain, Sabres captain Jack Eichel is changing agents while in the midst of a long-standing dispute with the team over how to treat a neck injury, sources confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday.

Tuukka Rask said he could be ready to return from offseason hip surgery in late December, and when he does, the unrestricted free agent goalie only wants to play for the Boston Bruins.

"I'll be ready to go probably around Christmas time, January," Rask told WEEI 93.7 FM on Wednesday. "So hopefully I can start skating here in a month and a half or so and then progress from there and be ready to go in January."

Saying "it's time," goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has announced his retirement, ending a legendary 15-year NHL career.

"For the last 30 years, I have devoted my life to the game of hockey ... and now it's time to walk away from the game I love and begin a new chapter," Lundqvist wrote in a statement on Twitter on Friday. "The future excites me. I've met so many amazing people over the years that will help to guide and inspire me in my new journey."

Glendale is terminating its lease with the Arizona Coyotes for Gila River Arena after the 2021-22 season, the city announced in a statement on Thursday.

The Coyotes have played at the city-owned Gila River Arena for the past 18 seasons. However the sides have been operating on year-by-year agreements since 2016, unable to find a long-term solution.

Michigan defenseman Owen Power has elected to return to school for his sophomore season rather than make the jump to the NHL after being selected with the No. 1 pick by the Buffalo Sabres in last month's draft, according to multiple reports.

In doing so, Power will become the first No. 1 overall pick not to play in his team's season opener that year since 2007-08, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

The NHL will have advertising on the front of team jerseys for the first time starting in the 2022-23 season, a source told ESPN.

The league's board of governors formally voted this month to approve jersey advertisements. The NHL had surveyed its teams and found the majority of them in favor of jersey ads. The ads will be featured in a 3-inch-by-3.5-inch rectangle, which is larger than the NBA's 2.5-by-2.5-inch space for uniform ads.

The news was first reported by Sportico.

Jaromir Jagr said he feels obligated to continue playing for the team he owns in the Czech Republic, even though the former NHL forward admits his skills are declining with his 50th birthday approaching.

"Do you know why I'm still playing?" Jagr told The Hockey News in comments published Wednesday. "I have a responsibility to the club, otherwise I wouldn't fly here and I wouldn't be making a fool of myself. But if I quit, the partners and sponsors would leave and the club may be done. I have no choice. People don't understand it, but I don't care. Only God will judge me. I expect much more from myself, and I also believe that I have it in me."

Jagr took over as majority owner of Kladno from his father, also named Jaromir, in 2011.ro

When the NHL released its 2021-22 regular-season schedule, it featured a Winter Olympics break Feb. 7-22 with the caveat that "no final agreement or decision has been made regarding the possible participation of players."

If the NHL doesn't send its players to the Beijing Games, it would switch to a revised schedule that will adopt as many dates from the current one as possible. But changing schedules this late in a truncated offseason would have a dramatic impact on NHL teams, which are already selling tickets and scheduling travel based on the current schedule.

"In my own conversations, there are some teams that are acting like this is Armageddon," an NHL team executive told ESPN this week.

Tony Esposito made an immediate mark on the Chicago Blackhawks and a lasting impression on the NHL.

Esposito, the pioneering Hall of Famer who spent almost his entire 16-year career with the Blackhawks, died following a bout with pancreatic cancer, the team announced Tuesday. He was 78.