This Week in the NHL: Noah Hanifin returns to Calgary…already

Credit: Noah Hanifin (© Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)

So many games. So little time. What should you focus your NHL hockey fandom on if your favorite team’s games don’t scratch the itch enough?

Welcome to This Week in the NHL. From now until April, we’ll lay out a collection of key games, events and deadlines to watch on the league calendar each week.

So what’s on tap for March 11-17?

March 14: Noah Hanifin returns to Calgary

Vegas Golden Knights @ Calgary Flames, 9:00 p.m. ET

Well, this got awkward very quickly. Hanifin decided he wouldn’t re-sign in Calgary, and the Flames dealt the puck-moving blueliner to the Vegas Golden Knights last week for a conditional first-round pick (which shifted from 2025 to 2026 as a result of the Tomas Hertl trade), a conditional 2025 third-round pick and prospect defensemen Daniil Miromanov. Eight days later, Hanifin returns to the Saddledome to face the team with whom he spent the past six seasons.

March 17: Tank Bowl, Round 2

San Jose Sharks @ Chicago Blackhawks, 6:00 p.m. ET

The Sharks and Blackhawks remain neck and neck in the battle to finish 32^nd overall in the NHL standings and earn the top draft lottery odds at 25.5 percent. They sit tied with 39 points, though the Blackhawks have played two more games and thus have the inside track on 32nd. They last met in January, when the Sharks “won,” a.k.a. lost to the Blackhawks in a shootout and gained (lost) a point. The Sharks go into Sunday’s matchup a bit weakened, having dealt two of their top forwards in the injured Hertl and also the healthy Anthony Duclair over the past week. After trading goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, too, and with newly acquired Vitek Vanecek joining Mackenzie Blackwood on injured reserve, the Sharks enter this week with…Magnus Chrona and Devin Cooley as their goaltending tandem.

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