Hockey News 4/23/20

NHL Player Gaming Challenge

The NHL has announced its first ever Player Gaming Challenge that will begin April 30th. Every team will have one or two representatives, including the new Seattle Franchise, who will face off in a 50 player NHL 20 tournament. To go along with this the National Hockey League and EA Sports will donate $100 thousand to the CDC Foundation for Covid019 efforts. Here are the participants for each team:

Anaheim Ducks: Cam Fowler

Arizona Coyotes: Conor Garland and Clayton Keller

Boston Bruins: Jake DeBrusk and Charlie McAvoy

Buffalo Sabres: Brandon Montour

Calgary Flames: Noah Hanifin and Matthew Tkachuk

Carolina Hurricanes: Warren Foegele

Chicago Blackhawks: Drake Caggiula

Columbus Blue Jackets: Elvis Merzlikins and Zach Werenski

Colorado Avalanche: J.T. Compher

Dallas Stars: Stephen Johns and Jamie Oleksiak

Detroit Red Wings: Madison Bowey and Anthony Mantha

Edmonton Oilers: Caleb Jones and Darnell Nurse

Florida Panthers: Jonathan Huberdeau

Los Angeles Kings: Michael Amadio and Blake Lizotte

Minnesota Wild: Devan Dubnyk and Jordan Greenway

Montreal Canadiens: Victor Mete and Nick Suzuki

Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg

New Jersey Devils: Mackenzie Blackwood

New York Islanders: Matt Martin

New York Rangers: Chris Kreider

NHL Seattle: Luke Wilson (of the Seattle Seahawks, NFL)

Ottawa Senators: Brady Tkachuk and Chris Tierney

Philadelphia Flyers: James van Riemsdyk

Pittsburgh Penguins: Zach Aston-Reese and Bryan Rust

San Jose Sharks: Evander Kane and Marcus Sorensen

St. Louis Blues: Colton Parayko and Robert Thomas

Tampa Bay Lightning: Tyler Johnson

Toronto Maple Leafs: Zach Hyman

Vancouver Canucks: Thatcher Demko and Adam Gaudette

Vegas Golden Knights: Ryan Reaves and Alex Tuch

Washington Capitols: Evgeny Kuznetsov

Winnipeg Jets: Anthony Bitetto and Kyle Connor

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets have re-signed goaltender/rookie sensation, Elvis Merzlikins to a two year contract worth an average of $4 million per season. Elvis has played 33 games for the team putting up a 2.35 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. He is even in talks to win the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year for this season.