Links, News and Notes: Fanatics Partnership, Ovechkin Reaches Milestone, McDavid Blasts NHL and More

The Ottawa Senators are back in action tonight, but before we get to coverage of their match-up with the Tampa Bay Lightning, here are some of the stories making headlines around the hockey world:

• Fanatics has entered into a 10-year agreement with the NHL to be the league’s official on-ice uniform outfitter starting in 2024. The Fanatics logo will now appear on the jerseys and the NHL will be the first league to represent the Fanatics logo. Some fans were unhappy with this decision as there have been many issues with the quality of Fanatics products for a long time. The assumption is the on-ice products would be under heavier quality control but we shall see.
• It’s been one of the biggest stories of the year, and Alex Ovechkin’s march to the all-time goal scoring record continunes. The 37-year old scored his 40th goal last night to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most career 40-goal seasons. Maybe he’s really not a fan of seeing Gretzky’s name atop the record book at this point?
• Connor McDavid is not happy with the NHL. After watching the World Baseball Classic championship, McDavid is wondering why the league hasn’t been involved in a best-on-best tournament in 6 years. After missing the last 2 Olympics appearances, the NHL has not made much of an effort to provide the players and fans with a similar experience. Considering how much effort is put into the All-Star Games with little engagement overall from the fans, you’d think the NHL could get creative with another tournament instead.
• The IIHF announced this week that the ban against Russia and Belarus will extend into next season. Citing security reasons, both countries will not be participating in the Women’s championship that will take place in the Unites States and the Men’s tournament set in the Czech Republic. They will be banned from the 2024 World Juniors in Sweden.
• Hockey Canada announced on Wednesday that GMs Dave Brown, Cam Russell and Peter Anholt will make up the new team for Program of Excellence management. The POE will oversee the men’s U17, U18 and U20 programs.
• Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe had some thoughts on the Sens’ new arena. On the biggest question of public funding, Sutcliffe isn’t ruling it out altogether— though he did say that he doesn’t believe it will be required./