NHL season is back: Can Panthers keep run alive? Will Sabres end drought?

The2026 Winter Olympicsare over, theUnited States won its first gold medal since 1980and now Olympians are rejoining their NHL teams for the stretch run.

The league is starting up again on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and NHL games will be played for the first time since Feb. 5. TheDetroit Red Wings,Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders,Buffalo Sabres,Boston Bruins,Seattle Kraken,Utah MammothandAnaheim Duckssit in a playoff position after missing the postseason in 2024-25.

Thetrade deadline is around the cornerand the rush to a playoff berth is on before theregular season endson April 16.

Here's a look at key questions as the NHL regular season resumes:

Feb. 4: The Los Angeles Kings acquired left wing Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Liam Greentree and conditional third-round (2026) and fourth-round (2028) picks.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Jan. 27: The New York Islanders acquired left wing Ondrej Palat, a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for forward Maxim Tsyplakov.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Jan. 20: The San Jose Sharks acquire forward Kiefer Sherwood from the Vancouver Canucks for second-round picks in 2026 and 2027, plus defenseman Cole Clayton.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Jan. 16: The Anaheim Ducks acquire winger Jeffrey Viel from the Boston Bruins for a 2026 fourth-round pick. Anaheim will give up the better of the fourth-rounder previously acquired from Philadelphia and Detroit.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Jan. 8: The San Jose Sharks acquire goaltender Laurent Brossoit, defenseman Nolan Allan and a 2028 seventh-round pick from the Chicago Blackhawks for defensemen Ryan Ellis, Jake Furlong and a 2028 fourth-rounder.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Dec. 29: The Pittsburgh Penguins acquire forward Yegor Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets for forward Danton Heinen, a 2026 second-round draft pick and a 2027 third-rounder.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Dec. 12: The Minnesota Wild acquired Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round pick.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Dec. 12: The Edmonton Oilers acquired Tristan Jarry and Samuel Poulin from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round pick.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

NHL trade tracker: Who changed teams in 2025-26

Will the trade deadline be busy?

The date is March 6 this year, so teams don't have a lot of time to work something out.

There was a major trade right before the Olympic freeze when theRangers moved Artemi Panarin to the Kings. Once the freeze lifted, theAvalanche traded defenseman Samuel Girardto the Penguins for Brett Kulak on Feb. 24.

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There's an opportunity for more trades because there's a gap between the haves and the have-nots, and top teams have needs. The last-place Canucks, who already moved Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood, have Evander Kane and Teddy Blueger as pending free agents. The Rangers could move Vincent Trocheck, Flames center Nazem Kadri would be coveted and the Blues could be sellers.

Will the Panthers keep their Stanley Cup hopes alive?

They won the last two Stanley Cup titles, went to the Final the year before that and were Presidents' Trophy winners in 2021-22. But that string of success suffered a serious blow when captain and Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov needed ACL surgery after being injured on his first day of practice in September.

They're also missing defensemen Dmitry Kulikov and Seth Jones and sit in last place in the Atlantic Division with 61 points, eight points out of a playoff spot. The good news is Matthew Tkachuk returned before the break and that Jones is skating with a non-contact jersey. Bill Zito is a creative general manager and Paul Maurice a top-notch coach. They have 25 games to make up those points, which is possible if they come out strong after the break. And as they showed the last three years, if they make it into the postseason, they can go far.

Can the Sabres end their playoff drought?

Their 14 years out of the playoffs is an NHL record. It looked like it might reach 15 when they started slowly. But things turned around when they fired general manager Kevyn Adams and promoted Jarmo Kekalainen. They pushed a winning streak to 10 games and now sit in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. But they lost three out of four heading into the break and will need to remedy that, especially when they will be facing the Lightning and Golden Knights two times each in the next 11 games.

Can the Red Wings end their playoff drought?

They haven't made the playoffs in nine years and are sitting in third place in the tough Atlantic Division. Other teams have a game or more in hand. But their goaltending is better than in the past because of John Gibson, and they have plenty of cap space to make a move at the deadline.

Can Kings overcome the loss of Kevin Fiala?

Fialabroke his legwhile playing for Switzerland at the Olympics, had surgery and will miss the rest of the regular season. The Kings have Panarin now, but his acquisition was designed to boost an offense that had Fiala in the lineup. Fiala leads the Kings with 17 power-play points. Los Angeles is three points out of a playoff spot, so it might need to make another trade.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NHL season resumes: Here are 5 pressing questions

byDaniel Coleman

in

February 25, 2026

NHL season is back: Can Panthers keep run alive? Will Sabres end drought?

The2026 Winter Olympicsare over, theUnited States won its first gold medal since 1980and now Olympians are rejoining t...

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Bobby Hurley hits the floor in Arizona State-TCU scuffle

It hasn't been the easiest season for Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley.Those struggles continued Tuesday in a 90-78 loss to TCU.

A sideline scuffle between the two teams resulted in Hurley getting knocked to the floor early in the second half. The fun began when a trap by Arizona State's Andrija Grbović and Bryce Ford forced a timeout, with the two continuing to be physical with TCU's Brock Harding after the whistle.

Players, coaches and staff from both teams rushed to the Sun Devils' sideline once the shoving began, with Hurley physically pushing back Horned Frogs center Vianney Salatchoum. TCU head coach Jamie Dixon then got involved, and Hurley appeared to fall down after tripping over someone's feet.

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The incident didn't result in any ejections, nor did Hurley appear harmed by the fall.

Regardless, it was another bad day for a coach widely seen as being on the hot seat as the calendar nears March. Tuesday's loss marks a second straight loss for Arizona State, which lost 73-68 to Baylor on Saturday.

The Sun Devils now hold a 5-10 record in Big 12 play, tying them for 12th worst in the conference. They finished 15th last year with a 4-16 record as well.

Hurley outright admitted to having "failed" to get through to his team last monthand his contract expires at the end of this season, making it easy for Arizona State to move on if it chooses.

byDaniel Coleman

in

February 25, 2026

Bobby Hurley hits the floor in Arizona State-TCU scuffle

It hasn't been the easiest season for Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley.Those struggles continued Tuesday in a 90...

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Former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth opens up about shocking Denver exit, rift with Michael Malone: 'Some version of this was going to happen'

It's approaching a year since the Denver Nuggets fired Calvin Booth and Michael Malone on the same day. It was a stunning move that ended the tenures of the GM and coach who delivered the franchise its first championship just two years earlier.

The two clashed over how to build a roster after the title. Malone wanted veterans. Booth wanted to develop young players. They didn't see eye to eye. They talked behind each other's backs. And Nuggets president Josh Kroenke had enough of the tension consuming the organization.

"I think we both would admit a lot of stuff is overblown," Booth said on The Kevin O'Connor Show in an illuminating conversation that shows an ex-GM still processing what happened, still proud of what he built, and still waiting on the phone to ring.

In the time since, Booth has been consulting with college basketball programs and Malone has been working as an analyst for ESPN. Neither has landed another NBA job.

"He doesn't mind commentating games," Booth said. "But he would probably die to coach an NBA team tomorrow. And he deserves it. He's a championship coach."

Booth didn't want to conduct an "autopsy" of the day he and Malone got fired, but when I asked what he was told, it's clear that one detail still stings: The organization told him they didn't want there to be a "winner or loser" in the situation between him and Malone.

"When you say a winner or loser, that's a reference to a game," he said, his voice shifting. "It's not a game to me. It's my life."

Booth believes four factors converged to cost him his job. First, the Nikola Jokić effect: when you have the best player in the world, everything else gets taken for granted. Second, the friction between a tenured champion coach and a first-time GM. Third, ownership. Booth believes the Kroenke family, for all its success across sports, doesn't place the same value on front-office executives that other organizations do.

"Whether it's Mark Warkentien or Tim [Connelly] or Masai [Ujiri], there's always gonna come a point where they don't value executives like that," he said of former Nuggets executives. "I'll probably disagree with their take on executives, but who am I? They've been so successful, so maybe it's the right way to operate."

And fourth: "I think I just made it look too easy."

He elaborated: "Anybody that's really good at something, when they make it look easy, that was really, really hard to get to. [It took] a lifetime's worth of playing basketball, coaching basketball, having conversations, scouting. For me to go in there right away, assemble a championship team, win a championship."

In his first offseason as the lead decision-maker after Connelly left for a more lucrative job with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2022, Booth traded Will Barton and Monte Morris for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He signed Bruce Brown. He drafted Christian Braun with the 21st pick and aggressively traded up to select Peyton Watson 30th. He traded Bones Hyland to create minutes for Braun. The result: a 16-4 playoff run and the franchise's first title.

"We won a championship. There was definitely alignment," Booth said.

Then the parade ended. And the decisions that would define Booth's narrative and eventually cost him his job began. Brown signed with Indiana, and Jeff Green got a better offer in Houston. The next summer, KCP left for Orlando. Booth signed a few veterans, including Russell Westbrook, Dario Šarić, and Justin Holiday. But his primary focus was on drafting young players to someday replenish what was lost in the rotation.

"You have a headache, right?" Booth said. "You want to take a Tylenol to get rid of the headache, but it makes you drowsy. Do you want to get rid of the headache or not? Because if you want to get rid of the headache, you have to take the whole pill. You cannot separate Peyton Watson and Christian Braun from some of the other things that people weren't happy with."

To Booth, the drowsiness was worth it. Braun immediately contributed as a rookie, but the others didn't. Watson was raw coming in and didn't really break out until last season. And this year, with the Nuggets being ravaged by injuries to star veterans Jokić and Aaron Gordon, Watson has looked like a potential star. Executives around the NBA think Watson could sign for roughly $25 million annually or more when he hits free agency this offseason.

"The reality of the thing is if we sign Bruce Brown back, we sign KCP back, or if they leave and we sign veterans … do Christian Braun and Peyton Watson do what they're doing right now?" Booth said. "Definitely not."

Booth had a plan to build a sustainable winner. In 2022, Booth drafted Braun and Watson. In 2023, he drafted Julian Strawther (29th), Jalen Pickett (32nd) and Hunter Tyson (37th), and signed Collin Gillespie as an undrafted free agent. In 2024, he drafted DaRon Holmes (22nd) and signed Spencer Jones to a two-way deal.

Strawther, Pickett and Jones have all played key roles in keeping Denver afloat with so many absences. In addition to Jokić and Gordon missing time, Braun and Watson have been hampered by injuries, too. Meanwhile, Gillespie has turned into a starting point guard and helped change the culture of the Phoenix Suns. For a group of late firsts, seconds and undrafted choices, it's quite a strong stretch of successful choices.

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"In most situations when somebody's running a team, I don't think the expectation is to bat 1.000," Booth said. "For some reason, I started to get the feeling that that was the expectation for me from whoever was in and around the Denver Nuggets community."

Booth pushed back on the idea that going young was purely a philosophical choice. Denver's ownership wasn't absorbing a massive tax bill, so he needed a pipeline of cheap contracts. And in the portion of the draft where Denver was picking, the value wasn't in one-and-done talents the whole league had passed on, like Watson. It was in older players, discounted for superficial reasons. Pickett's game wasn't pretty. Gillespie was undersized and unathletic. Those were features, not bugs.

"One of the things that is slightly annoying is how everybody constantly tries to place a ceiling on different guys," Booth said. "When Jimmy Butler goes 30th, does anybody know he's going to be Jimmy Butler? Or Fred VanVleet's undrafted, does anybody know he's gonna be Fred VanVleet? So I just think you try to get a player you think is going to be good and you just see what happens. I don't think you're ever going to know what somebody's true ceiling is."

If Booth was graded purely on his transactions, he'd still have his job. For all the debate about roster construction, the tension that ultimately sank Booth's tenure was with Malone. Reports of friction leaked for years. When both were fired on the same day, it seemed like confirmation that the rift had become untenable.

"Never a physical altercation in front of people. Never a verbal altercation in front of people," he said. "So where's the beef?"

When I noted that it's not common for a GM and a coach to be fired on the same day, Booth acknowledged friction existed but framed it as inherent to the job, not unique to Denver. "How many teams do you think that's happened with currently?" he asked. "I don't think it's unique to our situation. I think it happens with every team at some level in the NBA."

Booth credited Malone with developing Watson and Braun. He said the championship required alignment between them. He said Malone deserves another head-coaching job. But he was also honest about the bind he was in. Former NBA GM and coach Flip Saunders, Booth said, used to talk about the difference between idealistic and realistic. Front offices are idealistic. Coaches are dealing with reality every day: the pressure, the decisions, the knowledge that a losing streak could end their career. Booth admitted he was probably too idealistic in expecting a coach under that kind of pressure to execute a long-term development plan, especially for a first-time GM without a track record.

"I have to take accountability whatever way that narrative grew legs and my part in it, I've learned from that," Booth said. "There's such a weird paradox with NBA coaches. They're in the midst of the lion's den. They're dealing with players, some of the most formidable size-wise and ego-wise in the world, and they're managing them. Those guys buy in. And then these coaches have to report to a general manager who maybe doesn't have the gravitas they do. I just think it's a human nature thing."

Even with that awareness, Booth doesn't think the outcome was a reflection of how he handled it. He thinks he managed it better than most would have.

"You could put 100 GMs in my position," he said. "I don't know what, three or four of them do as good as I did."

Still, understanding the problem and solving it are different things.

"When I get that title, it's not an option for me not to do my job," Booth said. "So I think one of the only outcomes where everybody thinks we're aligned is me submit, lay down, not do the job. And that's not an option for me. So some version of this was going to happen. Could have been quieter. Could have not grown legs with the media. Could have not been such a crawl in ownership's pants. Maybe there's some different things that could happen in that regard."

Since Booth's departure, the Nuggets' new front office led by Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace traded Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson, re-acquired Bruce Brown, and added Jonas Valančiūnas and Tim Hardaway Jr. When I asked Booth what he thought, he didn't flinch.

"They're great. A lot of them we talked about when I was there. We thought we were gonna get Valančiūnas at the trade deadline," Booth said. "Obviously, they did their own unique things, but the one thing about the new CBA, there's only so many trades that can be done. It's kind of like paint-by-numbers, in that sense. So anybody sitting in that seat in Denver is going to have some kind of Michael Porter Jr.-for-Cam Johnson concept, because that's just one of the better deals that was out there."

Right now, Booth is consulting with college programs, helping coaches navigate the transfer portal. But when I asked if he wanted to run an NBA team again, the measured answer couldn't quite hide the want underneath it.

"Nobody's entitled or owed an opportunity to run an NBA team. There's 30 jobs. All those guys in their own way deserve to be in that seat," he said. "I'd be foolish to say that for the right scenario I wouldn't be willing to work for somebody."

Booth built a championship team, drafted a pipeline of players now contributing across the league, and left behind a roster framework that another front office executed. Booth said not a single owner has called.

"My door wasn't knocking down with people waiting to hire me. That's where this whole thing got blown out of proportion," Booth said. "If you look tangibly at what I did — my win percentage, what I drafted, working with a coach like Coach Malone as a first-time GM — I just don't know how my door isn't knocking."

My full conversation with Calvin Booth goes deeper into his time with the Nuggets, Jokić, his basketball philosophy, the upcoming draft, and many more subjects. Check it out on the latest episode ofThe Kevin O'Connor Show.

byDaniel Coleman

in

February 25, 2026

Former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth opens up about shocking Denver exit, rift with Michael Malone: 'Some version of this was going to happen'

It's approaching a year since the Denver Nuggets fired Calvin Booth and Michael Malone on the same day. It was a stun...

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Orbán orders extra security at energy sites, claiming Ukraine plots disruptions

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Wednesday ordered extra security at critical energy infrastructure sites after claiming Ukraine was attempting to disrupt Hungary's energy system.

Budapest has recentlyaccused Kyivof deliberately holding back Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine's territory. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations, saying the pipeline, which feeds refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, was hit in a Russian drone attack.

'An oil blockade'

In a video posted to social media, Orbán, who maintains the closest relationship with the Kremlin of any European Union leader, said the Ukrainian government was using "an oil blockade" to exert pressure on Hungary and that Hungarian national security services showed Ukraine was "preparing further actions to disrupt the operation of Hungary's energy system." He didn't provide details or evidence for his claims.

"We will deploy soldiers and the necessary equipment to repel attacks near key energy facilities," Orbán said. "The police will patrol with increased forces around designated power plants, distribution stations and control centers."

Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched itswar in Ukraineon Feb. 24, 2022. Yet Hungary and Slovakia, both EU and NATO members, have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas, and received a temporary exemption from an EU policyprohibiting imports of Russian oil.

On Sunday, Hungary threatened to block a major, 90-billion euro ($106 billion) EU loan for Kyiv, andvetoed a new round of EU sanctionsagainst Russia on Monday. Orbán has vowed to block any other EU measures to assist Ukraine until oil shipments resume.

Druzhba has been out of commission since Jan. 27. Repairs are hazardous and the pipeline can only operate reliably if Russia stops targeting energy infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials.

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Orbán also ordered Wednesday a ban on drone operations in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, which borders Ukraine.

A crucial election

Orban has repeatedly accused Ukraine of "blackmail" to force him to give up his anti-Ukrainian positions, and of seeking to drive up energy prices in Hungary just weeks before a pivotal election.

Orbán, who retook office in 2010,faces the strongest challengeto his power in an election set for April 12. The EU's longest-serving leader and his right-wing Fidesz party are trailing in most independent polls to an upstart center-right challenger,Péter Magyar.

Meanwhile, Orbán has launched anaggressive anti-Ukraine media campaignportraying the embattled country as an existential threat to Hungary.

His party has pushed the message that if it loses the election, the Tisza party will drag the country into the war in Ukraine, bankrupting Hungary and getting its youth killed on the front lines.

Associated Press writer Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed to this report.

byDaniel Coleman

in

February 25, 2026

Orbán orders extra security at energy sites, claiming Ukraine plots disruptions

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Wednesday ordered extra security at critical energy inf...

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Indonesia frees and deports American who spent 11 years in prison for Bali ‘suitcase murder’

Indonesia freed and deported an American man Tuesday after he spent 11 years in prison for the premeditated murder of his then-girlfriend's mother on the tourist island of Bali.

Tommy Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the 2014murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of Heather Mack, during a luxury vacation in a case also known as the Bali "suitcase murder."

Schafer was deported back to the United States from Bali International Airport on Tuesday evening after serving his sentence and receiving a number of remissions for good behavior, said Felucia Sengky Ratna, head of the Bali Regional Office of the Directorate General of Immigration, in a statement.

The badly battered body of the 62-year-old von Wiese-Mack, a wealthy Chicago socialite, was found inside the trunk of a taxi parked at the upscale St. Regis Bali Resort in August 2014.

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Heather Mack, who was almost 19 and a few weeks pregnant at the time of the killing, and her then-21-year-old boyfriend, Schaefer, were arrested on the island a day after the body was found.

Mack served seven years of a 10-year prison sentence in Bali for helping to kill her mother and wasdeported in October 2021.

She was also sentenced to 26 years in prison in Chicago in January 2024, after she pleaded guilty to helping kill her mother and stuffing the body in a suitcase during their vacation.

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byDaniel Coleman

in

February 25, 2026

Indonesia frees and deports American who spent 11 years in prison for Bali ‘suitcase murder’

Indonesia freed and deported an American man Tuesday after he spent 11 years in prison for the premeditated murder of his...

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