SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) The San Jose Sharks have hired longtime NHL forward Mike Grier to become the first Black general manager in NHL history.

Grier fills the spot that opened when Doug Wilson stepped away for health reasons earlier this year.

Grier spent three of his 14 seasons in the NHL with the Sharks from 2006-09, and he has spent the past decade filling various roles as a coach and scout around the league. He was most recently the hockey operations advisor for the New York Rangers.

Read More...

TORONTO (AP) The Toronto Maple Leafs have promoted Hockey Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser, Ryan Hardy and Darryl Metcalf to assistant general manager and hired Curtis Sanford as a goaltending coach.

Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic gold medalist with the Canadian women's hockey team, joined the Leafs as assistant director of player development in 2018 and was promoted to senior director of the department last year.

PITTSBURGH (AP) The Pittsburgh Penguins are sticking with Casey DeSmith, signing the team's No. 2 goaltender to a two-year contract extension on Tuesday that carries an average annual value of $1.8 million.

The signing gives the Penguins a dependable option behind All-Star Tristan Jarry. The 30-year-old DeSmith played in 26 games for Pittsburgh in 2021-22, going 11-6-5 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. His three shutouts tied a career high set in 2018-19. He set a franchise record for saves made in a shutout on April 21 when he stopped 52 shots by the Boston Bruins.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) The Coachella Valley Firebirds have hired the American Hockey League's first female assistant coach.

Jessica Campbell spent the past year working with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL development program and she was an assistant coach with Germany at the IIHF men's world championships.

ZURICH (AP) Appeals by Russia and its ally Belarus against bans from the world ice hockey championship following the invasion of Ukraine were rejected by the international governing body.

The decision "was not a sanction but was a safety policy" and also "the safety policy was not discriminatory and was proportionate," the International Ice Hockey Federation disciplinary board ruled on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AP) The New York Rangers have given forward Julien Gauthier a one-year contract extension.

Rangers general manager Chris Drury announced the move on Tuesday.

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (AP) The New York Islanders have hired Doug Houda and Brian Wiseman as assistant coaches, the team said Tuesday.

Houda joins new Isles coach Lane Lambert's staff after six seasons as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings. He had worked the previous decade in the same role with the Boston Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Julien BriseBois wanted to explain his plan to Ryan McDonagh in person, laying out exactly why he was asking the veteran defenseman to waive his no-trade clause.

After one of the most difficult conversations in his tenure as general manager, BriseBois made perhaps his toughest move yet during the Tampa Bay Lightning's run of success by trading a prominent member of two Stanley Cup championship teams in an effort to win it again in the coming years.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Rick Bowness doesn't mind being the second choice.

The Winnipeg Jets' new head coach was introduced Monday, a little more than a week after the team's first choice, Barry Trotz, declined an offer because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

After sitting through 12-plus rounds of the NHL draft over the span of two consecutive summers, Andrew Mangiapane had all but given up on hearing his name called.

The low point came during the 2015 draft in Florida, where midway through the sixth round, Mangiapane's father apologized for persuading his 19-year-old son to relive the frustration of not getting selected a year earlier in Philadelphia.