The Flyers failed to sign 2010 seventh-round draft pick Brendan Ranford prior to a Friday 5 p.m. deadline, and as a result, Ranford will re-enter the draft in 2012. Ranford told Canadian hockey reporter Gregg Drinnan the news after Friday's deadline.

Ranford, 20, turned heads during his 2010-11 season with Kamloops, the year after he was drafted as the 209th overall pick. He scored 44 points in the first 26 games, but he steeply dropped off over the rest of the regular season, posting 42 more points in his remaining 40 games. Not awful, mind you, but not the torrid pace he saw early that season.

Ranford posted 92 points in 69 games this past season.

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It's worth noting that things aren't yet over for Chris Pronger. There is still hope that he could re-join the Philadelphia Flyers at some point, but things seem really bleak. There's been little-to-no real improvement in his status since he first left the lineup early this past season with a concussion, and as each day passes, the apparent chance of him playing hockey again seems to diminish.

The last update we have on Pronger came from Paul Holmgren at his season-ending press conference on May 10.

"He's doing probably the same and any chance of returning, I would say your guess is as good as mine. Probably prior to July 1, we'll make an assessment on where he's at. I'm still, as it relates to Chris and as much as anything else, I'm a glass is half full kind of guy. I believe he's going to play, but I don't know. I don't have anything to back that up."

In a nutshell: We have no clue, but we're praying and hoping for him. Discouraging.

But despite scares after a giant moving truck was seen outside his South Jersey house, he's not retiring from hockey. That's what Holmgren told the Inquirer late Thursday, and it makes sense.

He can't retire. And that's really part of what makes this all so sad.

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It's a day to look back and remember the Hall of Fame career of Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. The 20-year NHL veteran retired from hockey on Thursday with a proper sendoff on his own terms. Lidstrom said he's no longer able to play at a peak level and he no longer has the motivation to do so. Seems as good a time as any to hang up the skates.

Dirk Hoag of SB Nation and On The Forecheck sat down to discuss Lidstrom's career -- his legacy, how he rose to become one of the league's all-time greatest defensemen, and where the Detroit Red Wings turn now that their captain is riding off into the sunset.

For more on Nicklas Lidstrom's retirement from the NHL, stick with our StoryStream. Get local reaction from Red Wings fans at Winging It In Motown and SB Nation Detroit.

Nicklas Lidstrom has retired. His hockey career is over, and he's adamant about it -- no Brett Favre-like comeback scenarios here. But of course, that begs the question: What will Lidstrom do with his time now that his career is over? A player of his caliber almost certainly wants to remain in the game in some way, right?

Yes. Lidstrom wants to stay in the game, but will he take a job with the Red Wings right away? He talked about that a bit at his press conference on Thursday.

"As far as the next career move, [Red Wings general manager Ken Holland] and I have had some discussions about the future, and I've told him that I'd like to remain with the organization somehow, but we haven't really talked much past that. That might be a question for Kenny, but it's been brought up in our discussions."

Lidstrom also revealed that he'll be moving his family back to Sweden. He's made Detroit his second home over the last two decades, but with the rest of his extended family still back in Sweden, it's important to him that they live across the Atlantic near those loved ones.

For more on Nicklas Lidstrom's retirement from the NHL, stick with our StoryStream. Get local reaction from Red Wings fans at Winging It In Motown and SB Nation Detroit.

Bob Hartley is the new head coach of the Calgary Flames, according to a report from RDS. The former bench boss with the Atlanta Thrashers and Colorado Avalanche had coached the 2011-12 season with Swiss club ZSC Lions. The team won the Swiss league title in his first and only season there.

Hartley was fired by the Thrashers just six games into the 2007 after the team got off to a slow start, and following the Atlanta gig did work for RDS, the French-language sports network in Canada. Hartley's proficiency in French was a major cause for speculation that he had the inside track on the Montreal Canadiens job locked up, and he was also considered for the Washington Capitals head coaching position as well.

But alas, it's a Western Canadian team he'll try to resurrect from the ashes. Hartley won the Stanley Cup in 2001 as the coach of the Avalanche.

For more from the Calgary perspective, check in with Matchsticks & Gasoline.

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It's over. After 20 seasons, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom has retired from the game of hockey. The future Hall of Famer announced his retirement on his own terms Thursday morning in a news conference at Joe Louis Arena.

"The last few seasons, I waited until the end of the season to assess my ability to play another year," Lidstrom said. "Sadly this year, it's painfully obvious to me that my strength and energy level are not rebounding enough for me to continue to play. My drive and motivation are not where they need to be to play at this level."

Lidstrom can still play the game at a high level, but apparently not high enough. It's safe to say that the organization wants Lidstrom to stay on the ice if the words of general manager Ken Holland mean anything.

"I think I've been dreading this since I became manager in 1997," Holland said. "I think I speak for the entire Red Wing organization in congratulating Nick on a great career. It's a Hall of Fame career."

Lidstrom leaves the NHL on his own terms.

"It's not that the tank is completely empty. It just doesn't have enough to carry me through every game at the high level where I want to play at. My family and I are completely comfortable with this decision. Retiring today allows me to walk away from the game with pride rather than have the game walk away from me."

As for his future, Lidstrom said that he's going to be moving back to Sweden with his family. He's talked with Holland about a potential future involved with the Red Wings, but nothing has been decided on that front.

Lidstrom earned four Stanley Cups, seven Norris Trophies, one Conn Smythe Trophy and 11 All-Star Game nods in his 20 year career. He will be missed.

The Devils may be in the Stanley Cup Finals, but there's still doubt about the club off the ice. It's not overshadowing the team like the situation in Phoenix has done to the Coyotes, but there are still uncertainties when it comes to owner Jeff Vanderbeek's hold on the club. Commissioner Gary Bettman talked about the process Wednesday.

"The New Jersey situation," Bettman said, "as we understand it at its most up-to-date point, is that the club, Jeff Vanderbeek, is working on both refinancing the debt on the club and an equity raise. He appears to be fairly confident that he can pull this off in due course in the next few weeks. Since I've been in touch with the banks on a regular basis, we seem to be on track."

The club's debt is reported to be around $80 million.

For more on the Devils, check in with In Lou We Trust and SB Nation New York.

The Devils were outworked by the Kings for much of Game 1 on Wednesday night, and it was especially obvious when the trio of Ilya Kovalchuk, Adam Henrique and Alexei Ponikarovsky stepped on the ice. Devils blog In Lou We Trust explains, noting that they expect some changes in Peter DeBoer's lineup come Saturday night.

I'm anticipating DeBoer changing lines for Game 2 because the ones used tonight were just not good. The unit of Adam Henrique, Kovalchuk, and Alexei Ponikarovsky were particularly bad. Henrique was invisible at times, Kovalchuk was just poor with the puck, and Ponikarovsky was either panicking or completely lost on plays.

All three combined for three shots on net tonight and two came from Henrique. Kovalchuk needs to get more than just one shot on net; and Ponikarovsky needs to relax and play anything he resembled during the regular season. It was hard watching them at times.

Stick with SB Nation's dedicated NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

While the Phoenix Coyotes sale to Greg Jamison is still a work in progress, and while the NHL expects the situation to play out positively for hockey fans in Arizona, no guarantees are being made about their future in the desert. Gary Bettman discussed the situation with reporters in Newark on Wednesday.

"I spoke to Greg Jamison early [Wednesday]," Bettman said. "He continues to do the two things he needs to do to secure the future of the Coyotes where they are in Arizona: One, working to conclude a set of documents with the City of Glendale on the building management situation. And he continues to put his equity together.

"The City of Glendale I believe next week is supposed to vote on the management agreement. Once that's in place, I think Greg will be able to conclude hopefully the finalization of his equity raise."

There are still a lot of moving parts here. That's perhaps why Bettman couldn't guarantee that the Coyotes would be in Glendale, Ariz., next season when pressed on the question by a reporter.

"I can't say anything with 100 percent certainty," he said. "I think the likelihood is, based on everything we know today, the process should conclude successfully, but it's not something I'm in a position to guarantee. We haven't worked on a Plan B for Phoenix. Our hope and expectation, going back to the earlier question, is this will get done. If it doesn't, we'll have to deal with it at the time. But it's not anything we're focused on at this time."

For more on the sale situation in Phoenix, check in with SB Nation Arizona and Coyotes blog Five For Howling.

Both teams in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals are there because of their aggressive play. They get in hard on the puck in the offensive end of the ice, pinch their defensemen and play a forward-thinking style. According to Kings blog Jewels From The Crown, Los Angeles had its forecheck working stronger than the Devils did for much of Game 1.

The Kings had their active forecheck working much better than the Devils throughout, but it didn't lead to very many chances. After the Devils scored, the Kings started to activate their defensemen a little more in order to generate more shots. This lead to the game opening up in the 3rd period. The Devils were able to effectively counter and out-pressured the Kings for the first time.

The game may have opened up in the third, and it did feel like the tide had turned in New Jersey's favor by the latter half of the period and overtime, but Jonathan Quick was great for Los Angeles down the stretch. In the end, it was that active forecheck of the Devils that ultimately did them in on Anze Kopitar's game-winning goal as two players collapsed on the puck carrier, leaving the Kings' best offensive threat wide open for a breakaway opportunity.

The Kings credited that to simple hard work.

"I think we've out-worked teams," Quick said. "I think whoever wins this series is going to be the team that out-works the other."

"Yeah, I mean, every time you get on the road you need a team effort," Kopitar said. "It showed again tonight. We had four lines going, six D. Jonathan was great at net for us again. We've got to continue doing that."

Stick with SB Nation's NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

Kevin Westgarth has an isthmus of hair. You have no idea what an isthmus of hair is, but don't lie and say your curiosity hasn't been piqued a bit already. Luckily, all you have to do is watch a quick video and you'll be an expert in the field.

You'll also learn some other things should you choose to watch said video. Which television character does Henrik Tallinder resemble? Which King has the best beard? Which Devils player sports the reverse Hitler? And you get to hear a history lesson from Doc Emrick, too.

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Nicklas Lidstrom has played 20 seasons in the NHL, and while we all hope this is a big joke, it certainly appears as though the future Hall of Fame defenseman has played his final game. The Detroit Red Wings have called a press conference at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, and it's expected that Lidstrom will step away from the game at that press conference.

NHL Network will carry the proceedings live, as will NHL.com. Following the press conference on NHL Network, an encore presentation of NHL 36, the league-produced documentary series that follows players for 36 hours during the season, featuring Lidstrom will be broadcast.

There's no doubt that it will be a sad day in Detroit as one of the best defensemen to ever play the game hangs up the skates.

For more on Nicklas Lidstrom's retirement from the NHL, stick with our StoryStream. Get local reaction from Red Wings fans at Winging It In Motown and SB Nation Detroit.

If there's anything that the New Jersey Devils can be happy about after their 2-1 overtime loss in Game 1, it's that they had their chances to win the game. They were the better team in the overtime period and for spurts in the latter period of the game but, when all was said and done, they just weren't the better hockey team.

As head coach Pete DeBoer put it, they didn't deserve to win the game.

"You know, it would have been nice to get a bounce," DeBoer said. "But I don't believe we deserved to win tonight. That's the bottom line. That's what happened. If we had have won, we would have been sneaking one out."

It's certainly true. While the Devils controlled the tempo in overtime, they were brutally outworked in the second period, and DeBoer blames part of that on a slow, tentative start -- to be expected in the Cup Finals against a team you're unfamiliar with, but not ideal.

"They were good. They were off for a while. We knew they'd be good. I thought we were a little tentative early. Once we got comfortable, I thought we started to play better. We've got to be better than we were tonight."

Stick with SB Nation's dedicated NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

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If you're the Los Angeles Kings and faced with a one-on-one situation -- just your forward and the opposing goaltender -- in overtime during the Stanley Cup Finals, one guy on your team would be the unanimous choice.

His name is Anze Kopitar, and that's exactly the situation he found himself in Wednesday night in Game 1. He beat Martin Brodeur with a forehand shot to end the game and put Los Angeles one step closer to the Stanley Cup.

Justin Williams made the play along the wall. The Devils got a bit aggressive along the wall with both Dainius Zubrus and Bryce Salvador overcommitting a bit, leaving Kopitar all alone to receive a gorgeous pass from Williams.

Devils coach Pete DeBoer said after the game that he doesn't apologize for playing that aggressive brand of hockey -- "We're in it to win the hockey game," he said -- and he shouldn't, because it's that style that allowed them to reach these Cup Finals. But at least for one night, it hurt them.

Stick with SB Nation's dedicated NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

Jonathan Quick was just great for the Los Angeles Kings in overtime, but despite that, it really seemed like the New Jersey Devils were going to come out with this. With the kind of pressure they were generating, there’s just no way that a team doesn’t break through at some point.

But that’s part of the beauty of this game. One play in the other direction -- a setup by Justin Williams and a gorgeous breakaway move by Anze Kopitar -- has given the Kings a 1-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, run of play be damned.

You knew the Kings would make a charge sooner or later. They’re not a team to sit back at all, but when the Devils have Martin Brodeur making these kinds of saves, it doesn’t really matter how much pressure Los Angeles brings.

The two-pad stack. Vintage Marty right there.

Mark Fayne just missed a wide-open net. By my very rough count, that’s at least four wide-open nets the Devils have missed in the game so far. David Clarkson had two of his own in the first period, Zach Parise missed one earlier in the third, and now Fayne.

The Devils are dominating play in the third period and should probably have a big lead with all of these golden opportunities, but instead, we’re still tied.

The fans aren't happy here in Newark, but this is absolutely the right call by the officials. Zach Parise knocked a loose puck into his own net with his hand, and ... well, that's not allowed. The goal was waved off by the officials and we're still tied at 1-1 in the third period.

Parise never should have had the chance to knock the puck in with his hand. A first-shot attempt by the Devils should have beaten Jonathan Quick, but miraculously it stayed out of the net as Parise just couldn't get a firm handle on the shot.

Stick with SB Nation's dedicated NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

It's still early in the third -- just a few shifts in -- but the New Jersey Devils already look much more energized. The Devils' third line of Adam Henrique, Patrik Elias and Jacob Josefson put together New Jersey's best shift of the night, generating at least two chances on it.

The Los Angeles Kings look to be sitting back a bit during this early Devils charge, and L.A. goaltender Jonathan Quick's been forced to work for the first sustained stretch all evening.

Walking around the concourse during the second intermission, it was clear to me that Anton Volchenkov's goal had given the crowd some energy. They've carried that into the third period, and so has the team on the ice.

Stick with SB Nation's dedicated NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

It took the New Jersey Devils 14 minutes and 30 seconds before grabbing their first shot on goal of the second period. It wasn’t really a shot.

The New Jersey Devils have certainly been more physical in the opening few minutes of the second period, but it’s not really getting them anywhere. Through the first 6:14 of the period, New Jersey has zero shots on goal, while the Los Angeles Kings have created several scoring chances of their own.

But, hey, at least they’re playing tough. Dainius Zubrus leads all players in the hits department, and this one on Jeff Carter is certainly worthy of the highlight reel.

Legal? It looks as though Zubrus left his feet, so perhaps not. Still kind of awesome, though. Another look:

Stick with SB Nation's dedicated NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

CBC always knocks it out of the park with their playoff video montages, and this year's edition was no different. They showed a fantastic, chill-inducing montage prior to Game 1 of the 2012 Stanley Cup finals between the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, and you'll want to watch it.

If you're a fan of this game, these videos will always get your blood flowing. You don't have to be a fan of the Kings or Devils, either, to appreciate the awesome comparisons made between the past and the present on each team. Or, in Martin Brodeur's case, both wrapped into one.

The best part? We get another one of these at the end of the postseason.

Stick with SB Nation's dedicated NHL hub for full Stanley Cup finals coverage. For more on the New Jersey Devils, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust. For more on the Los Angeles Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.