The Arizona Coyotes lost their home opener at Mullett Arena on Friday night, the NHL team's first game in its temporary home at Arizona State University.

Blake Wheeler's goal at 32 seconds of overtime gave the Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 victory over the Coyotes in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd of 4,600 fans -- considered a sellout in the NCAA-sized rink.

"Tough way to end it, right? I felt we deserved better," Coyotes forward Christian Fischer, who had two goals in the loss, said. "But I thought energy of the crowd was great. Something that we've missed as players, especially guys that have been here for a while. It's loud, and the fans are cheering for us. That's all we really care about. It's a cool little rink."

Brad Marchand will make his season debut when the Boston Bruins host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

The winger is coming off double hip surgery and is returning approximately one month ahead of schedule.

"As soon as it came up that I was going to have the surgery, they told me it was going to kind of be end of November (before he returned). I said, 'It's not going to be the end of November,'" Marchand told reporters. "We're going to see what we can do."

Carey Price said he has no plans to retire from the NHL but has no idea when or if he will be able to play for the Montreal Canadiens again. 

"We'll have to take it step by step," Price said Monday. "I don't have a plan to retire right at this moment. Right now, my goal is to be pain free from day to day.

"I'm still having some issues getting up and down stairs, carrying my kids up and down stairs is difficult, so my first priority is to get my body in a place to where I'm pain free in my day-to-day living and go from there."

Detroit Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana has been placed in the NHL and NHLPA's player assistance program.

The league entities released a joint statement on Wednesday updating Vrana's status as he enters their protocols, which are designed to help players with a range of matters from mental health to substance abuse.

The Calgary Flames and city officials said Wednesday they will restart negotiations for a new arena.

Their previous deal, agreed upon in 2019, collapsed late last year when the estimated cost of the project rose and the Flames withdrew. In January, the city hired third-party negotiators to resurrect the project, and those efforts led to Wednesday's announcement.

The Flames have played for 39 years in their current home, the Saddledome, the second-oldest NHL arena behind New York's Madison Square Garden.

The NHL released its first-ever comprehensive diversity and inclusion report at its board of governors meeting on Tuesday, highlighting efforts to promote social change while offering a snapshot of its demographic challenges.

The 24-page report, titled "Accelerating Diversity & Inclusion," details the last two years of work by the NHL's Executive Inclusion Council and three subcommittees, which were created to examine and take action on diversity issues facing players, fans and hockey at all levels.

"We are working to better understand and accelerate our engagement across all layers of diversity -- including nationality, race, gender identify, sexual orientation, disability and religion," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wrote in the report. 

The NHL salary cap could jump by over $4 million next season if the league meets its revenue projections.

"We believe that there's a good probability that the escrow will be paid off this season. Which means the flat cap would be replaced by a bigger increase," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said after the league's board of governors meeting Tuesday in Manhattan.

The NHL and NHL Players' Association signed a new collective bargaining agreement in 2020. 

Bruce Boudreau would've preferred to get his 600th NHL win in one of the Vancouver Canucks' first two games this season or their finale last season.

Instead, the Canucks coach has a chance to reach the milestone in familiar surroundings against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Monday.

Doug Wilson said his physical health has improved but that he still faces a long recovery process from an unspecified illness that caused him to step down as the Sharks’ general manager earlier this year.

“I am not where I need to be. I’ve got some work ahead of me,” Wilson said Saturday morning at a news conference, hours before the special recognition ceremony the Sharks are holding for him at SAP Center.

For their sparkling Stanley Cup run, the Colorado Avalanche picked up some snazzy rings to commemorate the moment.

How about these numbers: 669 diamonds, 18 custom-cut sapphires -- plus two more round sapphires -- and 42 rubies. All told, its gemstone weight checks in around 18.5 carats.

Not only are the rings eye-catching, but so is the accompanying box. When opened, it plays a video of the Avalanche hopping onto the ice to celebrate the franchise's third Stanley Cup title by dethroning the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 in June.