Author: Patrick Hoffman

Patrick covers the NHL for Inside The Rink. He has previously covered the league for The Ultimate Hockey Fan Cave, WTP Sports, Sportsnet.ca, Kukla’s Korner, Spector’s Hockey, NHL Network Radio blog, TheHockeyNews.com, The Fourth Period, Stan Fischler’s “The Fischler Report”, as well as a slew of others.

Sabres Sign Goaltender Luukkonen to Five-Year Deal

For a long time, both the Buffalo Sabres as a franchise and their fans assumed that Devon Levi was their goaltender of the future. Levi, 25, won the Mike Richter Award twice as college hockey’s top goaltender, looked solid in his first seven career games, and had the makings of a franchise goaltender. Levi is […]

An Email Interview with Florida Everblades Broadcaster Jake Maurice

When you grow up in a family that has a member who is involved with hockey or loves the game of hockey, there is always a good chance that you will get involved with the game in some way as well. One such person is Florida Everblades broadcaster Jake Maurice. Jake’s father is Florida Panthers’ […]

Opinion: Why This Could Be the Year that Predators’ Saros Wins the Vezina Trophy

It may be too early to start thinking about next season considering that we are still in the thick of things regarding free agency and the summer in general. One area that might be worth looking at is potential award winners for next season. For this particular article, I want to focus on the Vezina […]

Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images

Opinion: Team USA’s Goaltending Could End Up Being Lights Out in NHL’s Four Nations Face-Off

When it comes to international competition involving NHL players, especially goaltenders, it is usually hit and miss when it comes to Team USA because if their goaltenders do not play well, they usually fail to accomplish anything. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Team USA went 1-3 and were outscored 14-9 despite being heavily […]

New York Rangers General Manager Chris Drury

Opinion: No One Should Envy Rangers’ GM Drury

Going into the offseason, it was clear that one area that the New York Rangers needed to address was finding a high-end winger to play on the team’s first line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, team general manager Chris Drury struck out on that front. He missed out on the […]

The Clock To Extend Shesterkin Set to Begin for the Blueshirts

The New York Rangers have been blessed when it comes to their last three main starting goaltenders. In Mike Richter, the Rangers had a player who played a huge part in helping them win their first Stanley Cup in 54 years back in 1994. He was also someone who played very well on several bad […]

Opinion: Torn on a Potential Rangers Reunion With Patrick Kane

There was a lot of excitement when the New York Rangers first acquired forward Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2023 NHL trade deadline. In Kane, 35, the Rangers were bringing in someone who won three Stanley Cups, had a lot of chemistry with Artemi Panarin, and could bring a lot of excitement […]

Opinion: With Cup Win, Panthers’ Bobrovsky Cements Hall of Fame Legacy

After winning the Stanley Cup on Monday night, June 24, with the Florida Panthers, it is safe to say that goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is going to end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame one day. Let’s start by looking at his overall numbers: – 396 career wins (14th all-time)– 2.59 career goals-against average– A .915 career save […]

An Email Interview with Billy Morrison: Creator of the “Hockey Hardware” Tabletop Game

Everyone out there knows the popularity of fantasy sports these days as it seems like either everyone is playing it or they know someone who is involved with it. One such player is Billy Morrison. Morrison grew up playing and loving fantasy hockey. With that said, he wanted something different. As such, Billy created Hockey […]

Talking Hockey, Life, and Broadcasting with Nick Olczyk of the Seattle Kraken

Seattle Kraken/TNT color analyst Eddie Olczyk always dreamed about playing in the NHL. The man they call “Edzo” accomplished that and more in a terrific 18-year playing career in the league. He finished with 794 points (342 goals and 452 assists) in 1,031 games before having a brief coaching stint and then moving into the broadcasting booth full-time. […]