ANAHEIM – Corey Perry received a renewed appreciation for longtime Anaheim Ducks linemate Ryan Getzlaf when he was anchored to his couch during his bout with the mumps in November, and again in recovery from a sprained knee last month.

Perry specifically remembers the detailed, two-goal game that Getzlaf had against the Ottawa Senators on Dec.19.

"Even though we lost, individually, he was still producing," Perry said. "Those individual-type plays, sacrificing for your teammates, those are big things that stick out in my mind."

It was during Perry's 14-game absence that Getzlaf, the Ducks captain, re-asserted another case for the Hart Trophy. Getzlaf had six goals and 13 assists without Perry on his wing, and he entered Wednesday against the New York Rangers (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN) third in the NHL with 44 points.

The Boston Bruins are still trying to find their way this season. The Pittsburgh Penguins added another big piece to a puzzle general manager Jim Rutherford is trying to put together with hopes of delivering their first Stanley Cup since 2009.

Boston (19-15-6) has earned at least one point in four straight games, but it has lost three in a row (1-0-3). Pittsburgh (24-10-5), which acquired left wing David Perron from the Edmonton Oilers last Friday, is tied with the New York Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Bruins will try to get back on track when they face the Penguins in the first game of a Wednesday Night Rivalry doubleheader at Consol Energy Center (NBCSN, TVA Sports, 8 p.m. ET).

On the West Coast, the sizzling New York Rangers will face the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center (NBCSN, 10:30 p.m. ET). Behind the play of goalie Henrik Lundqvist and a rejuvenated power play, the Rangers (21-11-4) have won nine of their past 10 games. Anaheim (26-9-6) has won 20 games by one goal this season.

BOSTON -- With the Boston Bruins in the midst of their fourth three-game losing streak of the season, seemingly everyone is looking for a way to spark the team.

The Bruins on Tuesday named principal Charlie Jacobs as chief executive officer for Delaware North's Boston Holdings, including the Bruins, TD Garden and NESN. Jacobs, the son of Bruins chairman Jeremy Jacobs, took the occasion of his promotion to publicly let everyone associated with the Bruins know their plight won't be tolerated.

"Incredible failure," Jacobs said in response to a question about the possibility the Bruins could miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "When you think about what has been put in this team in terms of the … let's discount all of the scouting, all of the drafting, all of the money spent on the player personnel, for us to be a team that's out of the playoffs is absolutely unacceptable. And everybody in the executive offices is fully aware of how I feel and they feel the same way, which brings us this evaluation process. And it's fluid right now. I can't say at any moment we have a final decision other than to say it'd be an utter disappointment and a complete failure."

Former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle bought into the modern puck possession-based statistics because he knew his team wasn't playing the right way and because the organization was making a big push to incorporate more analytics.

Need proof? Here is what Carlyle said before this season about Toronto's collapse last season:

"We always felt we needed to change our puck possession, specifically in the offensive zone, not be a one-and-out team and not be considered a rush team, but try to create more of a cycle game, grind teams down to play with the puck more," Carlyle said. "We weren't able to do that."

So yes, Carlyle knew the Maple Leafs were a bad puck possession team last season and how that needed to change this season. He knew the Maple Leafs hired assistant general manager Kyle Dubas in part to provide statistical proof that the team was not playing a winning brand of hockey.

EDMONTON — During his brief time coaching this season, Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish saw the extent of rookie center Leon Draisaitl's frustration with his play.

However, MacTavish would only contemplate sending Draisaitl, 19, back to junior if a contending Western Hockey League team owned his rights. Edmonton did not want Draisaitl returning to the Prince Albert Raiders this season.

"I had a real specific destination for Leon in mind and I talked to [Raiders GM] Bruno Campese saying it was very unlikely that he would be reassigned back to P.A.," MacTavish said on Tuesday. "At one of those conversations I said to Bruno that I had this specific situation that I thought was going to be ideal for Leon and if that situation was satisfied, there would be a likelihood that we would send him back."

Tuesday, the WHL announced Prince Albert traded Draisaitl's rights to the Kelowna Rockets in exchange for European import left wing Kris Schmidli, defenseman Dalton Yorke, a first-round pick in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft, a fourth round pick in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft and a conditional pick.

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has been attempting to acquire a top-six forward since the first month of the season. He found one in David Perron.

The Penguins traded forward Rob Klinkhammer and a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft on Friday to the Edmonton Oilers for Perron, who led Edmonton with 28 goals last season. Perron will enter Pittsburgh's top-six forward group, which has been decimated by injury and illness the past two months.

"We were finally in position so that we could find a guy who could come in, help our forwards, give us more depth up front," Rutherford said. "He can play both wings comfortably. He's a right shot. He likes to play the left side, but based on our injury situation, we suspect he would start on the right side with us until we get our full team back, but we're very pleased we could make this addition today."

There were unforgettable events and memorable moments across the hockey world in 2014, from "The Big House" to Bolshoy Ice Dome, New York to Los Angeles, Montreal to Boston, Toronto, Chicago, and so many other places.

Here are the 14 people who were front and center in those events, seemingly ordinary people doing extraordinary things, making them the most memorable people in the hockey world in 2014:

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins/Canada

Crosby had the best year for a player who didn't win the Stanley Cup, or even get past the second round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

He captained Canada to a gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, waiting until the most important moment of the tournament, the gold-medal game, to make his biggest imprint. Crosby scored the goal that gave Canada a 2-0 lead against Sweden, all but clinching their second straight Olympic gold.

He cleaned up at the 2014 NHL Awards show by taking home the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and the Art Ross Trophy for leading the League with 104 points, 17 more than anybody else. He received 128 of a possible 137 first-place votes for the Hart Trophy.

There are 525,949 minutes in a year, and it's safe to assume you spent a good deal of them watching hockey.

Yet, the minutes weren't the only thing we were counting. With the end of the 2013-14 season, the 2014 Sochi Olympics, an exciting 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the start of a new season, there was plenty of hockey, and plenty of numbers, to take away from the year 2014.

From Jan. 1 to this year's holiday break, here are 14 numbers that helped define the year in hockey.

The end of another year offers the chance to reflect on the previous 12 months.

For all of the tremendous accomplishments that took place this past year, 2014 was also defined by those we lost – among them a true hockey icon and three other Hockey Hall of Fame members.

Here's a look at some of those in the hockey world who left us during the past year:

Every year is filled with great games and great performances, but there are certain moments that stand out.

These moments can give fans goose bumps, or make them cheer and scream as loud as they can or even elicit tears. Whether it is a point in a game where the electricity of the sport wows everyone, or communal support in a time of tragedy, hockey brings people together.

Here are the top 14 hockey moments of 2014:

January 1: A sea of blue (and red) at the Big House

The anticipation for the 2014 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic centered largely on the venue. The NHL was going to play at Michigan Stadium, and a crowd of more than 100,000 was expected.

As the players stood and waited for the national anthems to be completed, the full scope of the spectacle set in. A record number of fans, half dressed in red for the Detroit Red Wings and half in blue for the Toronto Maple Leafs, sang the anthems and created a college-football like atmosphere as the snow fell in Ann Arbor. The Maple Leafs won in a shootout, and the images from the largest crowd to ever watch an NHL game were spectacular.