Overview
- Vegas, which learned of the sanctions Friday, was penalized for what the NHL called flagrant violations of playoff media rules and can seek an in-person appeal next week at the Commissioner’s Office in New York.
- After Thursday’s series-clinching Game 6 in Anaheim, head coach John Tortorella skipped his postgame availability and the team kept the locker room closed, with only a few players speaking in brief settings.
- The league said the decision followed previous warnings to the club, and those rules require coaches to speak postgame and teams to provide player access in the locker room during the playoffs.
- The forfeited 2026 second-rounder cuts into Vegas’s draft capital, with multiple outlets noting their highest pick this year now sits in the third round.
- The team acknowledged the ruling with no further comment, and reporting from several outlets linked the blackout to frustration over Brayden McNabb’s one-game suspension as Vegas prepares for a Western Conference Final opener in Colorado on Wednesday.