Tuesday's hockey: Ex-Spartan Anson Carter makes bid to land NHL team in Atlanta

Atlanta — After losing both the Flames and the Thrashers, Atlanta is making a third bid to land an NHL team.

Former Spartan Anson Carter announced on Tuesday he's heading a group that made a formal request to the league to begin the process of adding an expansion team in metro Atlanta.

Carter's group is the second to express serious interest in bringing another team to Atlanta, which was home of the Flames from 1972-80 and the Thrashers from 1999-2011.

Both teams relocated to Canadian cities — the Flames to Calgary and the Thrashers to Winnipeg, where they are now known as the Jets — because of ownership issues and slumping attendance.

Ryan Smith, owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz, also has put in a bid for an NHL expansion team in Salt Lake City.

The league has said it’s not ready to consider adding to its current 32-team lineup, but also has made it clear it is willing to discuss a new team with any group that reaches out. The expansion fee could be at least $1 billion.

The NHL is unlikely to move forward on expansion until it resolves the arena situation for the Arizona Coyotes, who currently play in a 4,600-seat college rink.

“The league appreciates Anson’s passion for bringing NHL hockey back to the Atlanta area, and he has certainly kept the subject on our radar screen for several years running,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “While, as we have made clear, we have no expansion-oriented process in place currently, it’s always good to know there is bona fide interest.”

Carter, who played with eight NHL teams from 1996-2007 after four years at Michigan State from 1992-1996 and has lived in Atlanta for 15 years, is leading the Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment Group, based in the prosperous suburb about 30 miles north of downtown Atlanta.

The group is proposing a new Frank Gehry-designed arena that would be constructed at a redevelopment of North Point Mall.

"I have no doubt that the best league in the world will thrive in its return to Metro Atlanta,” Carter said. “I have been in dialogue with commissioner (Gary) Bettman since 2019 about an expansion team returning to the Fulton County Metro Atlanta market, knowing that NHL franchise decisions are exclusively decided by the NHL Board of Governors.”

Suddenly, a city that has been without a hockey team for more than a decade has two groups vying for a franchise in a league that is riding the wave of hugely successful expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle.

Atlanta businessman Vernon Krause has proposed an 18,000-seat arena as part of a massive mixed-used development in southern Forsyth County, less than 10 miles north of the arena proposal by Carter's group.

Last week, Krause told WSB-TV that he and his wife recently visited New York and met with Bettman and Daly to discuss a possible expansion team.

Both arena proposals are along the Georgia 400 freeway that cuts through Atlanta's sprawling northern suburbs. Studies have shown the area contains a huge number of potential NHL fans and would mark a striking change from the arenas that the city's previous teams called home, both downtown.

The Flames played at the Omni, while the Thrashers took the ice at what is now known as State Farm Arena – a 17,000-seat facility built on the Omni site after the original arena was torn down.

State Farm Arena remains the home of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, but has undergone massive renovations that make it no longer viable to share a hockey team. Besides, Daly has said he believes an arena location north of the city would provide a new Atlanta-area team with a better chance at long-term success.

Carter, who now works as an analyst for TNT and Canada's Sportsnet, said his partners include Neil Leibman of Top Tier Sports, Peter Simon of Simon Sports and Aaron Zeigler of Zeigler Entertainment Group.

Carter said the proposed development at North Point Mall would also include a stadium that could be used for soccer and lacrosse, a performing arts venue, an esports center and practice facilities, along with retail, dining, hotel and residential elements. Insurance giant New York Life would be a partner.

There were no details on how the project would be funded or how much public money might be required, though Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin and Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts issued statements through Carter's group expressing their support.

Cleveland 3, Grand Rapids 2 (OT)

Cross Hanas and Elmer Soderblom scored goals for Grand Rapids in a 3-2 overtime loss in AHL action at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Tuesday.

Sebastian Cossa stopped 27-of-30 shots for the Griffins. The rookie netminder has a 12-game point streak (7-0-5) and hasn't lost a regulation game since January.

Tuesday's NHL games

(At) Philadelphia 3, San Jose 2: Owen Tippett scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist for the Flyers.

Joel Farabee also scored for Philadelphia, which was without suspended head coach John Tortorella. Cam York (Michigan) and Travis Konecny each had two assists for the Flyers.

Philadelphia, which has alternated wins and losses in its past eight games, moved four points ahead of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Ex-Red Wing Filip Zadina scored two power-play goals on assists from Luke Kunin for San Jose, which has lost 10 of 11. Magnus Chrona finished with 39 saves.

Vegas 5, (at) Seattle 4 (OT): Jonathan Marchessault scored his second goal of the game with 16 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and Jack Eichel scored 3:01 into the extra session to lift Vegas over Seattle.

Vegas picked up two points in the standings and moved nine points clear of Seattle in the chase for one of the wild-card spots in the Western Conference.

Seattle led 4-2 after Oliver Bjorkstrand's goal with 8:30 left in regulation but William Karlsson pulled Vegas within a goal before Marchessault tied it.

Andre Burakovsky, Matty Beniers (Michigan) and Brandon Tanev also scored for Seattle and Philipp Grubauer stopped 29 shots.

Adin Hill finished with 26 saves for Vegas.

Florida 4, (at) Dallas 3: Aleksander Barkov scored twice in the third period, including the decisive goal with 5:22 left, and Eastern Conference-leading Florida rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Dallas.

Sam Reinhart scored his 46th goal of the season and Sam Bennett also scored for Florida. Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe each had two assists for the Panthers, who won for the 18th time in 21 games.

Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and Joe Pavelski each had a goal and an assist for the Central Division-leading Stars, who had their season-best five-game winning streak snapped.

(At) Chicago 7, Anaheim 2: Connor Bedard had a goal and four assists to set his single-game high in points, Philipp Kurashev scored twice and had two assists, and Chicago beat Anaheim.

Ryan Donato, Seth Jones, MacKenzie Entwistle and Tyler Johnson also scored the Blackhawks, who have won two straight games for just the second time this season.

Brett Leason scored both goals for the Ducks, who dropped their third straight.

Bedard, the top overall pick in last year’s draft, got his fifth point when he assisted on Johnson’s power-play goal midway through the third period. The 18-year-old has eight points in two games and 10 in the last four.

(At) Minnesota 4, Arizona 1: Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals and assisted on another, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves as Minnesota beat Arizona.

Kaprizov scored an empty-netter with 2:32 to play, firing the puck the length of the ice to seal the win. Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno also scored for Minnesota, which has won four of five.

Nick Bjugstad scored for the Coyotes, who have lost four of five.

(At) Ottawa 2, Pittsburgh 1 (OT): Drake Batherson scored 3:13 into overtime, and Ottawa beat Pittsburgh to stop a seven-game winless streak.

Michael Bunting scored the tying goal with 23 seconds left in regulation for the Penguins, who have lost seven of eight.

Jake Sanderson broke a scoreless tie 11 minutes into the third period. Batherson’s winner was his 23rd goal of the season.

Joonas Korpisalo made 34 saves for Ottawa. Tristan Jarry stopped 37 shots for the Penguins, who had been outscored 15-1 in their previous three games.

(At) Montreal 3, Columbus 0: Cayden Primeau made 41 saves for his second career shutout as Montreal beat Columbus.

Brendan Gallagher, Jurai Slafkovsky and Joshua Roy scored for the Canadiens, with all the goals coming in the first 5:48 – and the last one leading to Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins getting pulled.

Merzlikins stopped one of four shots. Daniil Tarasov took over in net for Columbus and made 19 saves.

N.Y. Rangers 1, (at) Carolina 0: Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves for his second consecutive shutout, and the Rangers beat the Hurricanes in a matchup of the top teams in the Metropolitan Division.

Adam Fox scored late in the first period, and that goal held up through Carolina using an extra skater for the final two minutes.

Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 23 shots, but the Hurricanes' three-game winning streak ended in the final regular-season meeting with the Rangers, who have a six-point lead with 17 games remaining. New York won the season series 2-1.

Forward Jake Guentzel made his Hurricanes debut less than a week after he was acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh, recording one shot on goal in a little more than 15 minutes.

Playoff tracker

Atlantic

▶ Panthers (94)

▶ Bruins (91)

▶ Maple Leafs (82)

Metropolitan

▶ Rangers (90)

▶ Hurricanes (84)

▶ Flyers (76)

Wild card

▶ Lightning (74)

▶ Islanders (72)

(Top two wild-card teams make the playoffs)

▶ Red Wings (72)

▶ Capitals (69)

▶ Sabres (67)

▶ Devils (66)

▶ Pittsburgh (65)

Rempe suspended four games

New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe has been suspended four games for elbowing New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in the head.

The NHL’s department of player safety announced the ban after a disciplinary hearing Tuesday, handing the well-known rookie his first suspension 10 games into his career.

Rempe, 21, had taken the league by storm by fighting four times since being called up from the minors. He delivered a couple of borderline hits, and that rough play combined with fisticuffs gave him 54 penalty minutes – just below his total ice time of 56:28.

Then came the hit on Siegenthaler on Monday night, which drew a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The league, in a video explaining its rationale for suspending four games, said Rempe flared his left elbow up and out in dangerous fashion in order to make contact rather than missing completely.

Siegenthaler was injured on the play and did not return.

Rempe forfeits $17,083 in salary as part of the suspension. He'll miss games at Carolina, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh and at home against the New York Islanders before being eligible to come back March 19 against Winnipeg.

Flames renounce rights to Ronni

The Calgary Flames renounced their rights to draft pick Topi Ronni on Tuesday after the 19-year-old was sentenced in his native Finland for a rape that occurred when he was a minor.

Ronni was given a one-year suspended prison sentence by the District Court of Helsinki, his Finnish Elite League team announced Tuesday. The team, Tappara Tampere, said it has terminated his contract.

The Flames, who drafted Ronni 59th overall in the 2022 NHL draft, announced later they had dropped him.

The 19-year-old Ronni apologized in a statement on Tappara Tampere’s website.

Ronni was charged in October. His Finnish team said then he would step away from team activities during the investigation.

The incident occurred in 2021. Details of the allegations against Ronni were not known because the case documents were sealed.

Michigan-area hockey this week

Tuesday

▶ Buffalo 7, Red Wings 3

▶ Cleveland 3, Grand Rapids 2 (OT)

Thursday

▶ Arizona at Red Wings, 7 (BSD/97.1)

Friday

▶ Iowa at Grand Rapids, 7 (AHL/106.9/1300)

▶ Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 8:30

▶ Cedar Rapids at NTDP U18, 7

Saturday

▶ St. Louis at Red Wings, 12:30 (NHL/BSD/97.1)

▶ Iowa at Grand Rapids, 8 (AHL/106.9/1300)

▶ Michigan State at Ohio State, 6:30 (Big Ten/1240)

▶ Michigan at Minnesota, 8 (Big Ten)

▶ Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 7 

▶ Minnesota State at Michigan Tech, 5

▶ Cedar Rapids at NTDP U18, 7

Sunday

▶ Red Wings at Pittsburgh, 6 (NHL/BSD/97.1)

▶ Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 7 (if necessary)