The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Mike Vecchione to an entry-level contract.

Ron Hextall said Vecchione would play for the team this season, but added the 24-year-old's NHL debut probably wouldn't come Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

"We're excited about it," Hextall said. "We identified a couple of guys, college free agents, and Mike was one of them. Thankfully we got him."

Vecchione had 29 goals and 34 assists in 38 games for Union College and is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA's top player. His 63 points were tied for the most in the country.

Vecchione was one of the top college free agents available, ultimately picking the Flyers over the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Patrik Elias has announced his retirement from the NHL.

"Time flies. Some great years, successful years," Elias said in a video on the team's website. "Some rough years, but it all brought us here.

"It's a long relationship. I've been here 23 years so this has been my second home. ... You hear it on a nightly basis, not just here around the rink, but in the towns, in New Jersey and anywhere you go, you still get recognized. That tells you how much you meant to [the fans], and obviously they meant a tremendous amount to me to have their support."

A two-time Stanley Cup winner (2000, 2003), Elias hasn't played since the final three games of the 2015-16 season due to a knee injury.

Elias was drafted in the second round in 1994 by the Devils.

Zach Parise will likely miss the next three games with bruising and swelling around his eye from a high stick to the face that led to blows to his head as he fell.

Bruce Boudreau said Parise came away from the scary collision with his vision intact and perhaps on track to return next week.

"A little sore in his upper body, but I don't think he's going to be out for a long period of time," Boudreau said.

The Red Wings have been a model of consistent excellence in the NHL, but with Tuesday's loss in Carolina, one of the league's most remarkable streaks has come to an end.

For the first time since the 1989-90 season, a span of 25 seasons, the Red Wings will not make the playoffs.

Detroit's 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes, coupled with wins by the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, eliminated the Wings from postseason contention.

Wendel Clark knew his record might be in jeopardy a little more than 20 minutes into Auston Matthews's first game with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Matthews became the first player in NHL history to score four goals in a debut that October night against Ottawa and on Tuesday broke Clark's 31-year-old franchise rookie record with his 35th goal this season -- the opening goal in the Leafs' 3-2 win over Florida.

The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation remains hopeful for an NHL Olympic resolution but again made it clear that skipping the tournament in South Korea in 2018, then coming back to play in Beijing in 2022, is not the way to go.

Panthers coach and GM Tom Rowe says he regrets rushing Aaron Ekblad back to the lineup after the defenseman suffered a concussion earlier this month.

Ekblad is now dealing with a sore neck and will not join the Panthers for their four-game road trip that begins Monday in Buffalo.

Although the neck injury is not believed to be related to the concussion, Rowe said he made a mistake in putting Ekblad back in the lineup so quickly.

The NHL and the NHL Players' Association will announce next week that the league will travel to China for two preseason games between the Kings and Canucks next fall.

Officials from the league and players' association including NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will formally announce the games, first reported by ESPN in early February, at the LeSports Center in Beijing on Thursday.

It's expected the teams will play two games in mid- to late September before the start of the 2017-18 NHL season. One game would be held in Beijing, the site of the 2022 Olympics, with the other likely in Shanghai.

Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is not happy with Penguins star Sidney Crosby, saying the two-time league MVP should be suspended "for a long time" as a result of a serious finger injury to Senators defenseman Marc Methot.

"We all know who he is. The guy is just beyond belief," Melnyk told TSN 1200 radio in Ottawa on Friday. "You do this kind of stuff, I don't care who you are in the league, I don't care if you're the No. 1 player in the league, you need to sit out a long time for this kind of crap."

The International Olympic Committee and hockey's governing body will have to make concessions before the NHL sends the world's best players to the Winter Games in South Korea next year, commissioner Gary Bettman said Friday.

"As things stand today, you should assume we're not going," he said.