Welcome to the opening day of the 2012-13 NHL season!

NHL.com will be with hockey fans all day, as the sprint to the 2013 NHL Playoffs begins with a flurry of games on the season's first day. There will be 26 teams in action, with contests starting at 3 p.m. ET and continuing into the early hours of Saturday morning.

The day starts with the defending champions, the Los Angeles Kings, celebrating the first title in team history, with a banner-raising ceremony before they kick off the Cup defense against the Chicago Blackhawks. At the same time on the other side of the country, bitter rivals Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will exchange pleasantries for the first time since the Flyers claimed a wild playoff series in April.

If those two contests at 3 p.m. ET aren't enough, MTS Centre will be rocking again as the Winnipeg Jets welcome the Ottawa Senators. Later highlights on the opening day schedule include the New York Rangers in Boston to face the Bruins (7 p.m. ET), the Toronto Maple Leafs in Montreal to face the Canadiens (7 p.m. ET) and the Detroit Red Wings will begin a season without Niklas Lidstrom for the first time in two decades when they travel to St. Louis to face the defending division champion Blues (8 p.m. ET).

The night concludes with the Anaheim Ducks in Vancouver to face the Canucks (10 p.m. ET), with the Cory Schneider Era set to begin with Roberto Luongo still on the roster and watching from the bench.

Check back frequently for more blog updates throughout the day, as our team of NHL.com writers and contributors will keep everyone abreast of lineup decisions, late-breaking news and other developments in and around NHL arenas as the League welcomes back everyone for the 2012-13 campaign.

Alex Kovalev has made the opening night roster for the Florida Panthers.

Kovalev signed a one-year contract with the Panthers that Bob McKenzie is reporting is worth $1 million and also contains bonuses for games played.

Kovalev came to camp with Florida on a tryout contract after playing last season in the Kontinental Hockey League. He last played in the NHL at the end of the 2010-11 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Teams must announce their 23-man rosters for opening night by 5 p.m. ET Friday.

The Dallas Stars on Friday assigned goaltender Richard Bachman and defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League.

Bachman, 25, has an 8-5-1 record with a 2.74 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in 19 career NHL games. Last season, he became the first Stars goaltender to shut out the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden since Gump Worsley in 1972. The Salt Lake City, Utah native was Dallas' fourth-round selection (No. 120) in the 2006 NHL Draft.

Oleksiak, 20, was the Stars' first-round pick (No. 14) in 2001. He has skated in 38 games for Texas this season, posting three goals, 17 points and a plus-6 rating. Earlier this week, he was selected to participate in the 2013 AHL All-Star Game Classic in Providence.

The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday sent defensemen Colten Teubert and Taylor Fedun, along with forward Chris VandeVelde to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons.

Teubert, 22, had one assist in 24 games with the Oilers last season, and 10 points in 46 games with Oklahoma City. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound blueliner was the 13th pick of the 2008 NHL Draft by the Los Angeles Kings, and was acquired by the Oilers in March 2011 as part of the deal that sent Dustin Penner to the Kings. He has five points and 100 penalty minutes in 36 AHL games this season.

Fedun, 24, sat out all last season recovering from a broken leg. In 35 AHL games this season, the 6-foot, 201-pound blueliner has two goals and seven assists.

VandeVelde, 25, has a goal and eight assists in 31 AHL games this season. The 2005 fourth-round pick played five games with the Oilers last season, scoring his first NHL goal March 25.

The Phoenix Coyotes reduced their roster by six players Thursday, sending forwards Chris Brown, Andy Miele, Brendan Shinnimin and Jordan Szwarz, along with defenseman Brandon Gormley and Chris Summers, to the team's American Hockey League affiliate, the Portland Pirates.

Miele, 24, is third on the Pirates with 26 points in 35 games. He was scoreless in seven games with the Coyotes last season.

Brown, 21, a 2009 second-round pick, has 12 goals and 21 points in 37 AHL games. Shinnimin, 22, has 20 points in 38 AHL games in his first professional season. Szwarz, 21, a 2009 fourth-round draft choice, has 20 points in 32 games.

Gormley, 20, the 13th pick of the 2010 NHL Draft, has 10 points in 34 games in his first professional season. Summers, 24, has played 23 games with the Coyotes the last two seasons. In 34 AHL games this season, the 2006 first-round pick has eight points and 37 penalty minutes.

The Tampa Bay Lightning reduced their roster by three players Thursday, sending forward Tyler Johnson and defensemen Mark Barberio and Radko Gudas to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.

Johnson, 22, leads the Crunch with 20 goals and 35 points in 36 games. Barberio,22, a 2008 sixth-round pick, leads the Syracuse defensemen with 22 points in 37 games. Gudas, 22, a 2010 third-round pick, has 12 points and a team-best plus-22 rating in 34 AHL games.

The Lightning roster currently stands at 28 players.

The New York Islanders have returned first-round picks center Ryan Strome and defenseman Griffin Reinhart to their junior teams.

Strome, the fifth pick of the 2011 NHL Draft, will go back to the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League. The 6-foot, 179-pound forward is fourth in the OHL with 62 points in 32 games, and was tied for second on Team Canada with four goals in six games at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Reinhart, the fourth pick of the 2012 draft, has 14 points in 32 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League, and had an assist in five games for Canada at the WJC. Last season, he had 36 points in 58 regular-season games to help the Oil Kings win the WHL title and advance to the Memorial Cup.

The Ottawa Senators have announced defenseman Cody Ceci and forward Mike Hoffman will not be part of the season-opening roster.

Ceci, the 15th pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, will be returned to his junior team, the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League. In 44 games this season with the Attack and Ottawa 67s, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman is second among OHL blueliners with 30 assists and 41 points.

Hoffman, 23, is a 2009 fifth-round pick who will be sent back to the team's American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. In 34 AHL games this season, Hoffman is third on the team with 22 points.

The Chicago Blackhawks have assigned forwards Jimmy Hayes and Brandon Pirri and defenseman Ryan Stanton to the AHL's Rockford IceHogs.

Hayes, 23, had nine points in 31 regular-season games with the Blackhawks last season, his first in the NHL, and played in two postseason games.

Pirri, 21, had two assists in five games with Chicago during the 2011-12 regular season and paced the club with four goals and five points in four games during the 2011 preseason.

Stanton, 23, has yet to appear in an NHL game.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have returned center Boone Jenner to his junior team, and sent defenseman Tim Erixon to the American Hockey League.

Jenner, a 2011 second-round pick, will spend the remainder of the season with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League. The 6-foot-1, 196-pound center is second in the OHL with 30 goals in just 34 games. He also played for Canada at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship, going without a point in three games after sitting out the first three games of the tournament due to suspension.

Erixon, one of the pieces the Blue Jackets received from the New York Rangers in the Rick Nash deal, has 24 points in 34 games with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL. He's tied for sixth among AHL blueliners in scoring.