National Hockey League

The league was founded in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec, and its predecessor organization is the National Hockey Association which was founded in 1909. It started with four teams and now composed of 30 teams, 24 of which are located in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NHL attracts many highly skilled players from all over the world. Nowadays the league has a larger number of players from about 20 different countries. Canadians constitut over half of the players because both the sport and the league originated from Canada. Many American and European players have increased in the past 25 years, because the NHL continue to expand into the United States.

Stephane Yelle is acquired by Hurricanes

President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes Jim Rutherford announced that the team has agreed to add center Stephane Yelle on a one-year contract.

In 2008-09, Yelle scored seven goals and 11 assists in 77 regular-season games with Boston Bruins. He has scored 92 goals and 165 assists,collecting 458 penalty minutes in 921 career NHL regular-season games with Colorado, Calgary and Boston. Yelle was originally drafted by New Jersey in the eighth round in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. On behalf on the Avalanche he won the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001.

The coming of 2010 Winter Classic

The National Hockey League announced a piece of important information which is about the 2010 NHL Winter Classic on Aug. 17. The NHL's annual outdoor game will begin on New Year's Day with the Boston Bruins.

Last season's 2009 Bridgestone/NHL Winter Classic attracted 5.6 million North American TV audience and more than 750,000 visitors gathered on NHL.com. In 2008 the Eastern Conference rivals also received the SportsBusiness Journal "Sports Event of the Year" award for its inaugural edition. In 2008, the NHL Winter Classic between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins sold out the 74,000 tickets in just 20 minutes. Last year's Winter Classic received more than 240,000 ticket requests between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings.

Shanahan is back to Devils

Yes,Shanahan is coming back to New Jersey Devils for his 22nd season.Then a new contract has been signed between this 40-year old player and the club. The whole team are delighted to have him back.

Shanahan had 6 goals and 8 assists in 34 games last season.He led the team to get 656 goals. He didn't join the Devils until January last season. It seems that fans can not waiting to put on their favourite Devils jerseys to support him.

Red Wings acquires forward Eaves

Detroit Red Wings made an announcement that the club has signed free agent forward Patrick Eaves to a one-year contract. It is reported that in 2005 Eaves was a final player for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award in college hockey and played three seasons with the Boston College Eagles.

Eaves has played in 242 career games with the Senators and Carolina Hurricanes. He scored 20 goals in 58 games in 2005-06. On February 11, 2008, Eaves joined in the Hurricanes in exchange for Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore. In 85 games with Carolina during the last two seasons, he earned 19 points for the team.

Scottie Upshall remains in Coyotes for another year

Phoenix Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney announced that the Coyotes have signed left wing Scottie Upshall for another contract which lasts for one year. Fans can continue to see him playing on the ice in his Coyotes jersey.

Upshall completed new career-highs in 15 goals, 34 points and 74 games played last season. Before being traded to the Coyotes on March 4, 2009 in exchange for Daniel Carcillo, he started the season with Philadelphia Flyers. In 19 games with Phoenix, Upshall scored 26 penalty minutes during that time. He also earned a silver medal when he represented Canada at the 2009 World Championship in Switzerland.

Rick Wilson was hired as Associate Coach by Tampa Bay Lightning

Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton announced Tampa Bay Lightning have agreed to sign a multi-year deal with Rick Wilson, nominating him associate coach.

Wilson has spent the past 16 seasons with Dallas Stars, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999. During that time Wilson helped lead the team to achieve two Western Conference championships and two President’s Trophies. Now fans are going to change their Stars jerseys to Lightning jerseys.