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Former Minnesota Wild forward Mikko Koivu. Ben Ludeman-USA TODAY Sports

2021 NHL year in review: February

Originally posted on Pro Hockey Rumors | By Brian La Rose | Last updated 12/27/21

2021 has certainly been another eventful year, both on and off the ice. Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. Next up is a look at February.

New front office for Penguins: When Jim Rutherford resigned in January, the expectation was that Pittsburgh would hire a replacement GM and that would be that. Instead, it went a step beyond that, bringing in a new team president as well. Ron Hextall was appointed as GM and Brian Burke took over as president. Hextall made a name for himself with Pittsburgh's cross-state rival in Philadelphia both on and off the ice, having been their goalie and GM in the past. Burke, meanwhile, had last worked in the presidency role with Calgary in 2018 and had worked in the media since then.

Koivu retires: After Minnesota opted to not retain long-time captain Mikko Koivu, the center signed with Columbus in free agency. However, after struggling early on with the Blue Jackets, he decided that the time was right to hang up his skates, announcing his retirement. He played in 1,035 games over parts of 17 NHL seasons with all but seven of those contests coming with the Wild. He holds Minnesota’s franchise record for games played, assists, points, shots on goal, and plus/minus.

Julien fired: After a hot start to the season, the Canadiens started to struggle and then-GM Marc Bergevin decided to make a change behind the bench, firing head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller. Julien’s second stint with Montreal lasted parts of five seasons, with the team posting a 129-113-35 record with him at the helm. Julien’s contract runs through the end of the 2021-22 season, leaving the team paying him $5M not to coach. Meanwhile, Muller was also in his second stint with the team after joining them in 2016 and he has since moved on to Calgary. Dominique Ducharme was promoted to head coach on an interim basis for the rest of the season.

Babcock’s new coaching job: Mike Babcock found his next coaching job but it’s not a route many NHL coaches decide to take. Instead of coaching in the minors or in the NCAA, Babcock went back to where he once played, joining the University of Saskatchewan as their head coach on a volunteer basis. The veteran bench boss is still under contract with Toronto through the end of next season and is still receiving his full salary to not work for them. The Huskies have a 9-3-0 record this season, good for third place in U Sports’ Canada West conference.

Panarin leave of absence: Rangers star Artemi Panarin took a leave of absence from the team following allegations that he beat up an 18-year-old girl back in 2011. Those allegations came from former NHL tough guy Andrei Nazarov, who was Panarin’s coach in Russia at the time. Many felt there was a political element to the allegation given Panarin’s public support of opposition leader Alexi Navalny. Panarin vehemently denied the report and former teammates stepped forward to state that there was nothing to Nazarov’s claims. While it was termed as an indefinite leave, the winger was able to return to the lineup two weeks later and finished with 41 assists and 58 points in 42 games.

This article first appeared on Pro Hockey Rumors and was syndicated with permission.

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