NHL News: Jake McCabe, Blake Wheeler, and Evander Kane
Jake McCabe back on the ice.

Charlie Roumeliotis: Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Jake McCabe had cervical spine surgery this past offseason. He is expected to be out until late November. He was skating with the team yesterday.

The Winnipeg Jets strip Blake Wheeler of his captaincy

Winnipeg Jets PR: The Jets have restructured their leadership group for the upcoming season.

“It is the determination of the coaching staff that we will enter the 2022-23 season without a specific captain, but rahter a group of assistants still to be determined,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. “It is our goal to expand the leadership base within our hockey team. We have high expectations for our core players and we want to provide them with the opportunity to step into those greater leadership roles as a group.”

TSN: Blake Wheeler on losing the captaincy.

“I don’t need a letter on my jersey, y’konw. I think there’s a time in my career where that validation was important to me. I don’t need it anymore.

I’m really looking forward to watching a lot of the guys that I’ve had a privilege watching kinda grow up step in to sort of an expanded role,  you know if you think that because of this I’m just going to fade into the back and not be a leader on this team, you’re sorely mistaken

The Sharks and Evander Kane reach a settlement

Elliotte Friedman: The statement from the San Jose Sharks on the Evander Kane agreement.

“The San Jose Sharks have reached an agreement with Evander Kane regarding the termination of his NHL Standard Player Contract. The agreement has been approved by the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association. We are satisfied that its terms will not adversely impact the team, either financially or competitively, in this or future seasons.”

Frank Seravalli: The Sharks penalty will be applied to last season’s salary cap. Kane will receive roughly a $2.5 million payment to make up the difference between his new deal (the first three years is $16.5 million) and $19 million the Sharks terminated. The Sharks had just under $5 million in cap space last year.

Cap Friendly: “This is the first instance of a retroactive termination penalty applied to the previous season that we are aware of. In comparison, the LAK still owe termination fees to Mike Richards until 2031-32″