VANCOUVER – A new atmosphere is hanging over the Vancouver Canucks in the final days of the season.

The team is anchored to the bottom of the NHL standings and at the tail end of a disastrous campaign — and yet a lightness seems to be permeating the locker room.

“You can tell it’s changed,” said rookie defenceman Zeev Buium of the atmosphere. “I think just by the way we play, we’ve really come together off the ice and got to know each other and care about each other.”

That’s shown on the ice, he added, particularly in the way teammates are standing up for one another.

Veteran blueliner Filip Hronek came to Buium’s defence Tuesday after he took an ugly hit midway through a tilt with the Los Angeles Kings.

The score was knotted at 3-3 midway through the period when Hronek challenged L.A.’s Mathieu Joseph to a fight. The duo dropped their gloves, exchanged blows and tussled before both were thrown in the penalty box.

“Didn’t have to do that,” Buium said. “And then you’re willing to go out there and block anything, block a shot with any part of your body.

“All of us are really starting to come together and starting to move forward and not track back. And hopefully we can just carry that in the next game and next year.”

The Canucks (25-48-8) went on to beat the Kings 4-3 in overtime for their third straight victory.

It was the squad’s first win at home since March 17 when Vancouver handed the Florida Panthers a 5-2 defeat. Tuesday’s victory marked the second time all season the Canucks have won three straight games.

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“It’s not a fluke what happened these last three games,” said Canucks head coach Adam Foote.

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“These teams are pushing. They all wanted to beat us because of their own destinies. We’re doing things right. We’re playing as a team. They’re sticking to the game plan.”

Sticking to the game plan hasn’t always been the case this season.

Extended losing streaks have pockmarked the 2025-26 calendar, including a stretch where the team went 11 games without a win.

Seeing captain and star defenceman Quinn Hughes traded to the Minnesota Wild in mid-December didn’t help, Foote said. Neither did the rash of injuries that began early in the campaign and continued to mount all year.

The coach credited some of Vancouver’s veterans — including Hronek, defenceman Marcus Pettersson and forwards Brock Boeser and Teddy Blueger — with transforming the mindset after March’s trade deadline.

“They’ve been getting torn apart as a group for a very long time,” he said. “And they decided ‘Hey, this is our team. We know where we’re going. We’re staying here. This is who we’ve got.’”

Buium believes this is just the beginning.

The Canucks have just one game left this season: a battle with the Oilers in Edmonton on Thursday.

This string of positive results can set a foundation and a new standard in Vancouver.

“It’s something that I think that we all know that we need and that we’re working toward, and everybody wants the same thing,” he said.

“We want to win games. We want to contend. We want to reach for the stars. And I think that’s the big message, and we’re all just trying to continue to do that.”

JAKE’S JACKPOT

Jake DeBrusk tapped in a backdoor shot to seal Vancouver’s victory Tuesday.

It was the winger’s second goal of the night and his fourth over the last three games.

“For sure, I want to end off strong. We all do. It’s been a tough year,” he said.

“But it’s nice to see the puck going (in) the net, some plays are starting to happen and be able to finish … It’s unfortunate the situation, what it is. I’d like to keep it going, but in saying that, it was nice to contribute in the win tonight.”

DeBrusk now has 23 goals on the season, including 23 power-play tallies.

“Jake went through a lot of frustration this year. And you could see it,” Foote said, noting the former Boston Bruin isn’t used to missing out on playoff hockey.

“It seems like he’s swinging, too. He’s a streaky guy, too. He’ll score in streaks … but it seems like he’s having some more fun and he’s buying into it.”

ONE MORE TIME

The Kings (35-26-20) are headed back to the playoffs, but must first finish out the regular season Thursday against the Flames in Calgary.

Interim head coach D.J. Smith said he isn’t planning to change his approach for the 82nd game of the season.

“Other than guys being banged up, I think we’re going to go with our group and let the chips fall where they may,” he said. “You can’t dictate what other teams are going to do.”

L.A. finished Tuesday still sitting in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.

The Kings are tied with the Ducks on points (90), but Anaheim has more wins (42).

That’s fine by Smith.

“If you asked me a month ago, in your last 15 games you are going to lose one in regulation, or whatever it is, you’d take it,” he said. “So, at the end of the day, we’re going to go out, do our best and whoever we play, we’re going to play, and we got to be ready.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026.

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TORONTO – Chris Pronger realized there was a captive audience.

And the Stanley Cup-winning defenceman had plenty of stories, along with life lessons picked up from his winding journey, to share.

Unlike many retired professional athletes, Pronger wasn’t content to fade away. Instead of focusing on the cottage or the golf course, he started a public speaking platform after stints in NHL management and the league’s head office.

The Hockey Hall of Fame inductee also became active on social media — “chirping,” as he calls it, with a grin — along with TV work.

Pronger had previously knocked around book ideas. The substance, tone and message simply weren’t right. But the reception his speeches received eventually got him thinking.

The result is the memoir “Earned: The True Cost of Greatness from One of Hockey’s Fiercest Competitors” — a raw account of life and hockey that hit shelves Tuesday.

It’s also more than a career retelling. Pronger offers advice and perspective from his successes and failures in a tight 176 pages that fall somewhere in the sports/self-help category.

“It was really about, ‘What impact can it have on people and how can it help them get to that next place?’” Pronger, who won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and the Norris Trophy as its top blueliner in 2000, said in a recent interview. “What are they stuck in? Where are they stuck? What nudge do they need? Do they need to look at what they’re not doing right? And there’s plenty I didn’t do right.

“I try to walk people through that, but all the while betting on myself and eventually realizing it all lies within you. Nobody’s here to help you.”

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Pronger details tough decisions as a young athlete, the pressure of going No. 2 overall at the 1993 draft, and the early boos he heard with the Hartford Whalers and St. Louis Blues.

“My real turning point came when a sports psychologist asked me a simple question: ‘What are your standards?’” writes Pronger, a hulking two-time Olympic gold medallist for Canada. “I didn’t have an answer, but that question — and the process of finding the answer — changed everything.”

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Pronger lays out the wins, losses, accolades, difficult moments, trades, injuries and his missteps as teachable moments.

The 51-year-old from Dryden, Ont., who made the final with the Edmonton Oilers in 2006 and then won the Cup with the Anaheim Ducks the following spring, doesn’t gloss over his tale.

“I didn’t bat a thousand,” Pronger said, using a baseball reference. “We all have things happen in our lives that maybe aren’t what we expect, or we don’t get the outcomes we want. What were the pitfalls?”

He goes into detail about his arrival in and exit from Edmonton, including the five-year contract he signed while drunk despite having never been to the city, and without speaking to his wife, Lauren.

“But here’s where standards really matter — not in avoiding mistakes, but in how you respond to them,” writes Pronger, who gave up drinking in 2023. “I could’ve blamed my agent. Could’ve blamed the alcohol. Could’ve blamed the injuries. Could’ve blamed the pressure. Instead, I owned it.”

A father of three young children at the time, Pronger spent one season in the Alberta capital. Despite swirling innuendo at the time, he insists the fit wasn’t right, and the plan was always to leave the following summer.

“This wasn’t about Lauren hating Canada,” he writes. “This wasn’t about some of the b——- rumours that never happened. This was about me making a massive life decision at 2 a.m. without consulting my partner.

“This was about trust. This was about respect.”

Pronger, who made a third Cup final with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 and stopped playing a couple of seasons after that before working in the Florida Panthers’ front office, has had his name mentioned for vacant management roles in recent weeks as positions opened up, including the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 2015 Hall of Fame inductee said he hasn’t been contacted, but is flattered by all the “sources say” talk that’s swirling.

Pronger also has an idea why his name is out there — because he is.

“I’ve been out promoting my book and on TV,” he said. “A perfect storm with everything going on. People see me and go, ‘Hey, he’d be good, he’s got an opinion, look at his body of work.’

“But I’ll never say never. Never is a long time and never is very direct.”

Pronger also sees a tough road for a Toronto team that started this season with Stanley Cup aspirations, but will instead wind up near the bottom of the overall standings.

“I’m a firm believer every year you have to forge your own new identity,” he said. “It’s not that your identity rolls over. You have to be continually pushing on that. What is our identity? I’m not sure I know what type of team they are.

“Who are they?”

Pronger, however, knows exactly who he is. And it jumps off the “Earned” pages.

“I’m very open and honest,” he explained. “I’m not for everybody, and I’m not the perfect fit for everybody. My talking points are what I believe I’m a subject-matter expert in.

“I’ve been through virtually everything you can think of. I think there’s something to be said for that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026.

“Earned: The True Cost of Greatness from One of Hockey’s Fiercest Competitors” by Chris Pronger. Mission Driven Press/Simon & Schuster, 176 pages.

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TORONTO – John Tavares and his teammates opened the NHL season with plenty of hope.

Toronto’s sports scene was buzzing. The Blue Jays were in the early stages of what would turn into a memorable run to the World Series.

The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, had made the second round of the playoffs just the second time in the league’s salary cap era back in the spring.

Sure, star winger Mitch Marner had bolted town, but the Original Six club still found itself among the Stanley Cup favourites with a core led by captain Auston Matthews and supported by Tavares and fellow star forward William Nylander.

Things went off the rails quickly. Now it’s almost time for the autopsy after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Toronto (32-35-14) closed out its home schedule Monday with an entertaining, mistake-filled 6-5 loss to the Dallas Stars (49-20-12) where the Maple Leafs had built a 3-0 lead by the first intermission and led 5-3 midway through the third.

“When you know it’s the last home game, it’s not a good sign,” said the 35-year-old Tavares. “In some ways, tough coming in today knowing this was the last routine you’re going through, opportunity to go play in front of your fans. In some ways it’s difficult, but you try to go out there and put your best foot forward.

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“Unfortunately, it was some of the same for us.”

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Head coach Craig Berube, whose future is unclear beyond Wednesday’s finale in Ottawa against the Senators, lamented another night where crucial errors cost his group.

The playoff-bound Stars, meanwhile, became just the sixth team in NHL history — and first in almost 40 years — to overcome three-goal and two-goal deficits in the same game en route to a regulation win.

Despite the bitterly frustrating season, fans still on hand at Scotiabank Arena gave the players a nice ovation after the final buzzer.

“The support in Toronto is fabulous,” said Berube, whose club finished 18-15-8 on home ice. “It’s been fabulous for as long as I can remember, and it’s going to continue to be fabulous. It’s a great hockey market, it’s a great sports town. The fans are awesome here.

“This is a special place.”

Another member of the organization with clouds of uncertainty is defenceman Morgan Rielly. The longest-serving member of the current roster with 950 games across 13 campaigns, there are questions about his future with a club that will look to a chart its path once a new brain trust is in place following general manager Brad Treliving’s firing last month.

The 32-year-old Rielly, who has four seasons left on a contract that carries a US$7.5-million salary cap hit, would have to agree to a trade out of Toronto, but he was asked following the morning skate if he’d thought about Monday potentially being his last home game.

“It’s crossed my mind,” Rielly told reporters. “All athletes have that at some point.”

Tavares called the blueliner “one of the most selfless teammates” he’s played alongside.

“The way he handles himself day-to-day, the way he puts the team first, and how much he cares about each and every individual,” Tavares said post-game as the Maple Leafs fell to 0-5-1 over their last six. “And you talk about the level of hockey’s played for an extended period of time. With where we’re at this season, it’s pretty obvious everyone’s got to look themselves in the mirror.

“We didn’t come close to where we wanted to get to, so that’s on everyone. He’d be the first guy to put his hand in the air saying, ‘I gotta be better. I got to find ways to improve my game’ — especially as a leader to continue to push forward and find ways to push the group to where we need it to go.”

LOTTERY TALK

The Maple Leafs will surrender their first-round pick at June’s NHL draft to an Atlantic Division rival, the Boston Bruins, if it falls in the top-5 after the lottery.

Tavares was asked what it was like to a play on a night where many of Toronto’s fans were hoping for a loss.

“There should be an extreme amount of pride to play in this league, to play this game, and to wear the crest that we’re wearing,” he said. “I try to approach each game the same, no matter the circumstances, the challenges, the spot you’re in.”

FINAL BOW

Legendary longtime play-by-play man Joe Bowen called his final Maple Leafs home game after 43 years working in radio and television.

The 75-year-old was honoured in the third period with a video tribute and raucous standing ovation.

“Extremely special,” Tavares said. “Couldn’t be more well-deserved. He’ll be in Leafs lore for forever.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026.

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TORONTO – Mavrik Bourque registered his first NHL hat trick and added an assist as the Dallas Stars came back from 3-0 and 5-3 deficits to top the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 on Monday.

Jason Robertson scored and set up another for playoff-bound Dallas (49-21-12), while Wyatt Johnston and Arttu Hyry also found the back of the net.

Casey DeSmith made 22 saves for the Stars, who are locked into the Central Division’s No. 2 seed. Matt Duchene had three assists.

William Nylander, with a goal and two assists, John Tavares, Nick Robertson, Max Domi and Jacob Quillan, with his first in the NHL, replied for Toronto (32-35-14), which suited up for its final home game of a disastrous season that began with Stanley Cup talk — and will end near the bottom of the overall standings.

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Artur Akhtyamov stopped 26 shots in his second start. Matthew Knies had two assists.

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Maple Leafs forward Ryan Tverberg made his NHL debut. The 24-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., was a seventh-round pick at the 2020 draft.

Tverberg was the third player in as many games to see his first NHL minutes for Toronto, joining forward Luke Haymes (Thursday) and defenceman William Villeneuve (Saturday).

TAKEAWAYS

Maple Leafs: Legendary longtime broadcaster Joe Bowen called the final home game of his 43-year career behind the microphone on both television and radio.

Stars: Head coach Glen Gulutzan’s team will have home-ice advantage against the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs. Dallas owned the league’s third-best record entering Monday, while Minnesota sat seventh.

KEY MOMENT

Toronto built a 5-3 lead early in the third period before Johnston and Hyry, on a play where Maple Leafs defenceman Troy Stecher swatted the puck into his own net, scored to tie the game 5-5. Bourque then completed his hat trick to cap a Dallas comeback of three goals in six minutes 34 seconds.

KEY STAT

Tavares opened the scoring with his 564th career point for Toronto to pass Bob Pulford for sole possession of 11th on the franchise’s all-time list.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Visit the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.

Stars: Visit the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Craig Berube stood behind a stunned and bitterly disappointed Maple Leafs’ bench last spring.

As the clock wound down and the Panthers started to celebrate their emphatic Game 7 victory in the second round of the playoffs at Scotiabank Arena, Toronto’s head coach pivoted to the off-season believing there was something to build on in 2025-26.

Florida, meanwhile, went on to hoist the Stanley Cup for a second straight June.

Fast-forward not even 11 months later, both clubs are in vastly different — and similar — positions near the bottom of the NHL’s overall standings.

“Tough for both teams,” Berube told reporters Saturday morning. “I wouldn’t have thought that, but circumstances, injuries … a lot of things play into it.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes in this league. It just shows the parity in this league. You can’t take a breath. There’s no easy teams.”

Despite missing a boatload of injured regulars in the waning moments of a lost campaign, Florida topped Toronto 6-2 on a night that meant nothing other than draft lottery positioning.

“All these games are weird when you know you’re out of the playoffs,” Maple Leafs winger William Nylander said after scoring both his team’s goals. “We’ve been competing good. But I think they were competing better than us.”

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Toronto (32-34-14) also has injuries, including captain and star centre Auston Matthews, defenceman Chris Tanev and now goaltender Anthony Stolarz, but the Original Six franchise’s issues appeared long before the sick bay started to fill up, with the gaping hole left by Mitch Marner’s summer departure among the biggest.

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“I’m trying to approach it like any other game and not get too concerned with where we’re at,” Maple Leafs netminder Joseph Woll said after his team fell to 0-4-1 over its last five contests. “But at the same time, obviously not very happy with the results recently.”

“We’re trying to end the season on some kind of positive note,” Nylander added. “That’s the focus.”

Florida (38-38-4) was without 14 regulars Saturday, a long list led by captain Aleksander Barkov, who hasn’t played at all this season, fellow forwards Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues, along with blueliners Aaron Ekblad, Dmitry Kulikov and Seth Jones.

“Respect the game,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of his group’s approach with youngsters and call-ups occupying roster spots. “I think we did that.”

Florida is set to miss the post-season for the first time since 2019, while Toronto hasn’t sat out the NHL’s annual spring dance in a decade.

“It is difficult, no doubt about it,” Berube, a former NHL enforcer and Cup winner as coach, said post-game Saturday of suiting up in meaningless contests. “But you gotta perform and you gotta play. You gotta compete. I thought we competed. We didn’t go out there and not compete, but there’s just mistakes.

“Whether it’s turnovers or different plays and situations, there’s mistakes and they’re finding the way in the net.”

FIRST STEP

Maple Leafs defenceman William Villeneuve made his NHL debut after almost four full seasons in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies.

The 24-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., who was selected 122nd overall in 2020, has 29 points (three goals, 26 assists) and 64 penalty minutes across 59 games in the AHL in 2025-26.

“It was unbelievable,” Villeneuve said. “A great experience. Wasn’t the result that we wanted, but I’ll remember that day for rest of my life.”

BIG FAN

Woll said he enjoyed watching Artur Akhtyamov make his first NHL start in Thursday’s 5-3 road loss to the New York Islanders.

The Russian netminder was under siege early — including 24 shots against in the first period — and finished with 39 saves.

“I love his game … he’s sick,” Woll said. “Pretty cool, from my perspective, to watch him.”

Woll added that Akhtyamov gives off similar energy to countrymen and NHL stars Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin and Sergei Bobrovsky.

“That Russian swagger,” he said. “Same kind of vibe.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2026.

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TORONTO – Eetu Luostarinen and Mackie Samoskevich had a goal and two assists each as the Florida Panthers cruised past the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2 on Saturday night.

Tomas Nosek, with two goals, Cole Reinhardt and A.J. Greer, into the empty net to go along with an assist, provided the rest of the offence for Florida (38-38-4).

Daniil Tarasov made 17 saves for the Panthers, who snapped a four-game slide (0-3-1).

William Nylander replied with a pair of goals for Toronto (32-34-14), which got 19 stops from Joseph Woll in the club’s fifth straight loss (0-4-1).

Both poised to miss the playoffs, the Maple Leafs and Panthers met in the second round of last spring’s post-season, with Florida topping Toronto in seven games before going on to hoist the Stanley Cup for a second straight June.

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The Panthers, who started play one spot above Saturday’s opponent at 26th overall in the NHL standings, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before Nosek made it 3-0 in the second.

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Nylander scored on a power play midway through the period, and added another to make it 3-2 through 40 minutes. Samoskevich made it 4-2 in the third. Greer and Nosek iced it into the empty net.

TAKEAWAYS

Panthers: The two-time defending champs have shut a number of key players down with the playoffs out of reach and injuries piling up. Regulars done for the campaign include forwards Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues, along with blueliners Aaron Ekblad, Dmitry Kulikov and Seth Jones. Wilmer Skoog made his NHL debut at forward.

Maple Leafs: Head coach Craig Berube said following the morning skate that goaltender Anthony Stolarz, defenceman Brandon Carlo and forward Dakota Joshua are all done for the season with injuries. William Villeneuve made his league debut on defence.

KEY MOMENT

Nosek bagged his first goal of a season delayed by knee surgery when he fired past Woll at 1:32 of the second.

KEY STAT

Despite a miserable season on the ice and in the standings, Toronto entered Saturday with the league’s fourth-best penalty kill at 82.0 per cent.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Host the New York Rangers on Monday

Maple Leafs: Host the Dallas Stars on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press