Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet won’t deny being among the NHL's final eight teams still alive means a lot.

The NHL trade deadline is still three weeks away, and yet three of the top teams in the Western Conference have already made an addition.

Canucks winger Andrei Kuzmenko is the sixth NHL player to decide not to wear an LGBTQ+ themed warm-up jersey when Vancouver holds its annual Pride night.

The Vancouver Canucks have fired coach Bruce Boudreau and hired Rick Tocchet as his replacement.

The Buffalo Sabres have removed the interim tag from Don Granato and named him the team's full-time coach.

The expansion Seattle Kraken have hired Dave Hakstol as the franchise's first coach.

Rick Tocchet is out as coach of the Arizona Coyotes after four seasons.

Colorado Avalanche right wing Joonas Donskoi reacts after scoring a goal against the Arizona Coyotes in the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, march 31, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)DENVER – Joonas Donskoi scored three times during Colorado’s five-goal first period, and the Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes 9-3 on Wednesday night in front of home fans for the first time this season. To celebrate Donskoi’s accomplishment, fans tossed hats onto the ice — just like old times. Andre Burakovsky and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored in a wild first period that included Arizona goals by Michael Bunting and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. AdGabriel Landeskog finished with two goals, Mikko Rantanen added another and Burakovsky scored his second with 3:11 remaining on an assist by Donskoi.

In a unique situation like this, youre going from not playing to playing playoff-style hockey, so youve got to embrace the grind mentally, physically.This is a different kind of grind after four-plus months off the ice. Eddie Olczyk won and lost one best-of-five series early in his playing career with Chicago and remembers the nerves of being 18 and 19 years old in those moments. Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour understands that urgency despite being drafted two years after the NHL moved to all best-of-seven series. His Hurricanes face the Rangers, whose president, John Davidson, won the only two best-of-five series he played in with New York. In a short series, Quenneville said, anything can happen.___AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report.