Kristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
The New Jersey Devils have signed forward Timo Meier to an eight-year, $70.4 million contract extension, the team announced Wednesday.
Meier landed with New Jersey in a blockbuster trade in February between the Devils and San Jose Sharks. San Jose shipped Meier — in the final season of a four-year, $24 million contract — to New Jersey while retaining 50% of his cap hit, and received a package of four players and three draft choices in return.
It was a potentially risky move by New Jersey at the time given Meier was scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1, carrying a $10 million qualifying offer. The Devils believed they’d have a shot at inking Meier to a long-term contract, and were able to make that happen.
Meier, 26, had spent the entirety of his career with the Sharks since San Jose drafted him ninth overall in 2015, and had reached the 30-goal mark three times with them. The transition into New Jersey’s system took time, and Meier finished the regular season with nine goals and 14 points in 21 games. He added another two goals and four points in 11 postseason games, before the Devils were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in their Eastern Conference second-round series.
Now, Meier should be a significant factor in New Jersey’s lineup for years. Last season New Jersey finished with a franchise-best 112 points and made the playoffs for only the second time in over a decade. The Devils’ renaissance will continue to be led by Meier, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and other key young players.
Earlier this month, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald signed forward Jesper Bratt to an eight-year, $63 million extension, defenseman Erik Haula to a three-year deal, traded pending UFA Damon Severson to Columbus for a 2023 third-round draft choice and on Tuesday acquired forward Tyler Toffoli in a trade with the Calgary Flames while also trading the rights to pending RFA Mackenzie Blackwood to San Jose.
New Jersey has about $10 million in cap space to wield as well, per CapFriendly.
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Christopher Bell became the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to win three straight races in the NextGen car, holding off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by 0.049 seconds to win the second-closest race in Phoenix Raceway history Sunday.
Bell started 11th in the 312-mile race after winning at Atlanta and Circuit of America the previous two weeks. The JGR driver took the lead out of the pits on a caution and stayed out front on two late restarts to become the first driver to win three straight races since Kyle Larson in 2021.
The second restart led to some tense moments between Bell and Hamlin — enough to make their team owner feel a bit queasy.
“I was ready to upchuck,” JGR Racing owner Joe Gibbs said.
Bell became the fourth driver in Cup Series history to win three times in the first four races — and the first since Kevin Harvick in 2018. The last Cup Series driver to win four straight races was Jimmie Johnson in 2007.
“We’ve had four races this year, put ourselves in position in all four and managed to win three, which is a pretty remarkable batting average — something that will be hard to maintain, I believe,” Bell’s crew chief Adam Stevens said.
The Phoenix race was the first since Richmond last year to give teams two sets of option tires. The option red tires have much better grip, but start to fall off after about 35 laps, creating an added strategic element.
A handful of racers went to the red tires early — Joey Logano and Ryan Preece among them — and it paid off with runs to the lead before they fell back.
Bell was among those who had a set of red tires left for the final stretch and used it to his advantage, pulling away from Hamlin on a restart with 17 laps left.
Hamlin pulled alongside Bell over the final two laps after the last restart and the two bumped a couple of times before rounding into the final two turns. Bell barely stayed ahead of Hamlin, crossing the checkered flag with a wobble for his 12th career Cup Series win. He led 105 laps.
“It worked out about as opposite as I could have drawn it up in my head,” Bell said. “But the races that are contested like that, looking back, are the ones that mean the most to you.”
Said Hamlin: “I kind of had position on the 20, but I knew he was going to ship it in there. We just kind of ran out of race track there.”
Katherine Legge, who became the first woman to race on the Cup Series since Danica Patrick at the Daytona 500 seven years ago, didn’t get off to a great start and finished 30th.
Fighting a tight car, Legge got loose coming out of Turn 2 and spun her No. 78 Chevrolet, forcing her to make a pit stop. She dropped to the back of the field and had a hard time making up ground before bumping another car and spinning again on Lap 215, taking out Daniel Suarez with her.
“We made some changes to the car overnight and they were awful,” Legge said. “I was just hanging on to it.”
Logano, who started on the front row in his first race at Phoenix Raceway since capturing his third Cup Series at the track last fall, fell to the back of the field after a mistake on an early restart.
Trying to get a jump on Byron, Logano barely dipped his No. 22 Ford below the yellow line at the start/finish. NASCAR officials reviewed the restart and forced the Team Penske driver to take a pass through on pit road as the entire field passed him on the track.
“No way,” Logano said on his radio. “That’s freakin’ ridiculous.”
Logano twice surged to the lead after switching to the red tires, but started falling back on the primary tires following a restart. He finished 13th.
Preece took an early gamble by going to the red option tires and it paid off with a run from 33rd to third. The RFK Racing driver dropped back as the tires wore off, but went red again following a caution with about 90 laps left and surged into the lead.
Preece went back to the primary tires with 42 laps to go and started dropping back, finishing 15th.
The series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend.
The days leading up to the 2025 NHL trade deadline were a furious final sprint as contenders looked to stock up for a postseason run while rebuilding clubs added prospects and draft capital.
After the overnight Brock Nelson blockbuster Thursday, Friday lived up to expectations, with Mikko Rantanen, Brad Marchand and other high-profile players finishing the day on different teams than they started with. All told, NHL teams made 24 trades on deadline day involving 47 players.
Which teams and players won the day? Who might not feel as well about the situation after trade season? Reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski identify the biggest winners and losers of the 2025 NHL trade deadline:
There are some who saw what the Carolina Hurricanes did at the trade deadline — or perhaps failed to do after they traded Mikko Rantanen — and believe they’re cooked when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, based on the projections from Stathletes, the Canes remain the team with the highest chances of winning the Cup, at 16.7%.
Standing before them on Sunday are the Winnipeg Jets (5 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Jets had a relatively quiet deadline, adding Luke Schenn and Brandon Tanev, though sometimes these additions are the types of small tweaks that can push a contender over the edge. As it stands, the Jets enter their showdown against the Canes with the sixth-highest Cup chances, at 8.7%.
Carolina has made two trips to the Cup Final: a loss to the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and a win over the Edmonton Oilers in 2006. The Canes have reached the conference finals three times since (2009, 2019, 2023). Winnipeg has yet to make the Cup Final, and was defeated 4-1 in the 2018 Western Conference finals by the Vegas Golden Knights in the club’s lone trip to the penultimate stage.
Both clubs are due. Will this be their year?
There is a lot of runway left until the final day of the season on April 17, and we’ll help you keep track of it all here on the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide detail on all the playoff races — along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 43 Regulation wins: 12 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 17 Points pace: 54.3 Next game: vs. NSH (Tuesday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 8
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters.